


This Ain't Just a Thing That You Give Up

by lululawrence



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Actor!Louis, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, M/M, Mostly Fluff, Some angst, Some pining, a lot of fluff, and i'm really bad at these so i'll leave it there, college student!harry, including hand jobs, some smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-11
Updated: 2015-04-11
Packaged: 2018-03-22 10:42:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 34,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3725770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lululawrence/pseuds/lululawrence
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry turned to Liam to whisper something about not being in Kansas anymore but his best friend was frozen to his spot with a look of complete disbelief on his face. Harry looked to his right, the direction Liam seemed to be focused on, and saw a small group of people who had paused their discussion to look towards him in confusion. </p><p>A small group including Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson. </p><p>Harry is fairly sure his jaw actually dropped.</p><p>"Li, is that...?"</p><p>Liam nods his head emphatically. "I'm about 110% sure that yes. It is." </p><p>or...</p><p>The one where Harry is a baker in addition to being a college student who just happens to meet the crazy famous Louis Tomlinson while on spring break.  Featuring personal assistant!niall, roommate and best friend!liam, and costar/model!zayn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [genderfluidez](https://archiveofourown.org/users/genderfluidez/gifts).



> Hiiii! The prompt I chose involves famous!louis and college student!harry meeting during spring break and then this monster occurred sooo I hope it is everything you envisioned and you enjoy it! I loved being able to explore the characters the way I did.
> 
> Just FYI, I messed with the ages of the Tomlinson siblings in relation to Louis a bit to suit my needs. Hope you don't mind!
> 
> The title is from The Little Things by Colbie Caillat.
> 
> I had the best betas who dealt with me and all my insecurities while writing and i'm so happy I can now officially thank them! [Shar](http://tommosgun.tumblr.com), [Mel](http://2tiedships.tumblr.com), [Brandi](http://littlescumbags.tumblr.com), [Jamie](http://breathing--for-this-moment.tumblr.com), and [Laura](http://ostricacida.tumblr.com) were the best with making sure this was any good at all, so THANK YOU!!! With that being said, all errors left, including the formatting (I tried and tried and it just wouldn't work with me!) are my own. Including any errors I might have made in reference to photography, Savannah, the movie industry, baking, etc. I really don't know much, although I did try to make it as believable as possible. The photos used are my own. With that being said, I hope you all enjoy!

"Harry? Harry! What are you still doing in bed? You're going to be so late for work!"  
  
Harry slowly drifted into consciousness at the sound of his roommate Liam's voice but still couldn't really comprehend what he was saying. He knew he shouldn't have gone to the party some of the other photography students had thrown since it was spring break. He had made sure not to drink more than a couple beers because of his early shift at the bakery, but he still lost track of time and didn't end up getting back home until past 1. That was making this whole 5 am thing a lot harder. Which...speaking of...why is Liam awake already? He didn't wake up until 5:30 for his daily run.   
  
"What time is it? Why are you awake already?" Harry finally croaks out as he sits up and tries to find where he dropped his phone last night since it wasn't in its traditional charging dock on his nightstand.   
  
"It's past 6, bro. I'm already done with my run. Don't you have to open at 6:30 today?"   
  
Harry straightened from where he had been bent over grabbing his phone off the floor and knocked his head on the edge of the desk. He only now took in his sweat-soaked roommate as he rubbed his head and immediately began to scramble around his room as soon as he saw the clock on the wall. "Shit! Shit shit shit! It's already 6:17 and I was supposed to be there half an hour ago to get things set up before opening! Thanks, babe! I must've slept through my alarm!"   
  
"Anything I can help with?" Liam asked, his brown eyes wide with concern. He always looked out for Harry, sometimes to Harry's annoyance but this morning he was definitely grateful.   
  
"No, thanks though!" Harry was hopping as he tried to pull on his mostly clean skinny jeans from last night before grabbing the first shirt he could find hanging in his closet. He slipped his phone in his pocket and grabbed a hair tie and his keys before slipping on a pair of shoes and running out the door.   
  
Harry was one of two full time employees at the small bakery right by the main campus buildings for Savannah College of Art and Design where he was finishing his senior year. Since it was spring break, the bakery was basically being run by his boss, Nick, and himself while the other kids who were all part time employees partied it up in Florida. Harry had offered to give Nick a morning off since they had been pretty much dead until lunch time because the college campus was basically deserted and of course this is the day he missed his alarm.   
  
Speaking of, how did he miss that? Once he had his slightly unruly brown curls pulled up into a bun, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and found it was dead. Which explains the lack of an alarm. Excellent. Harry huffed a sigh and jogged the last couple of blocks to the bakery. It might only be mid March, but Savannah was already getting unseasonably warm and combined with the humidity, Harry was grateful when he opened the shop and felt the air conditioning come rushing out.   
  
He breathed a sigh of relief as he began flipping on all of the display and shop lights before heading to the employee room in the back. He dropped the keys and his useless phone on the table and assessed himself in the mirror Nick insisted was a necessity while he tied on his green apron. Unfortunately the shirt he had pulled on this morning was a ratty shirt he still had from high school advertising the band he had been a part of with some of his friends called White Eskimo. He winced a bit, but was comforted that Nick didn't care how they dressed as long as they were clean, however Harry took pride in presenting himself in a professional manner while at work and this threadbare shirt wasn't really what he was looking for. Oh well.   
  
Other than that he wasn't too bad off so he set off to the kitchen to turn on the ovens and get some of their muffins baking. He pulled out leftover inventory from last night that could still be sold so something at least was in the display cases out front if anyone happened to stop by before he had anything fresh available.   
  
In the next few hours, Harry sold a whopping three cups of coffee, a blueberry muffin, an orange cranberry scone, and five of their famous croissants to a few of their regulars but otherwise it had been quiet. It was Wednesday though, and at 10 on Wednesdays Paul, a local businessman from just down the street, always stopped by for a box of croissants to take for his employees so Harry wanted to be sure they had enough for him. He was wiping the sweat from his brow as he pulled out another fresh batch of the flaky pastry when he heard the door chime.   
  
"Be right there!" he called out as he set the tray on the counter to cool. He tossed down the oven mitts and passed through the swinging doors that led to the front of the shop. He smiled widely at the blond guy who looked about his age standing in front of the counter before he greeted him.   
  
"Good morning! Welcome to Nick's. How can I help you this fine day?"   
  
"Hey! I have a massive and very important question for you," the man started out. He didn't have the traditional twang the locals had, so Harry figured he was probably a student at one of the local universities.   
  
"I will do the best I can to answer this incredibly important question," he chuckled.   
  
"So I'm here on business with my boss and he spent some time in France last summer, right? He experienced what he claims was basically a religious experience with the croissants there. Every city we go to and visit he has me try different bakeries to see if he can find anything that even comes close to the way he adored his breakfast food while over there. I keep trying to explain to him he is American and there are plenty of other foods to eat and enjoy than just a croissant done like the Frenchies like it, but he wouldn't even listen to my full argument. So, my life changing question for you is: could your croissants compete with the ones of his memory? Or are they just going to disappoint like the other bakeries I have tried so far this week?" The young man started speaking faster and faster as his story continued and eventually was even using his hands to prove his point. Harry raised a brow and smirked at him before leaning on his arms on the counter.   
  
"Listen," he begins, drawing out his words, "I'm not sure what other bakeries you've tried so far, but Nick's is the best and we are basically known for our croissants. Wanna know why?" The blond nodded in faux solemnity. "I study at SCAD, and we have a sister campus in Lacoste, France. I spent a semester there last year and lived with this incredible grandma in her basement while there. She basically treated me as her own actual grandson. I adored her croissants so she taught me her ways. I brought the recipe back and taught Nick how to make his even better upon my return and we are now known for our croissants. So, yes. I would say, and rather confidently, that our croissants are just what your boss is looking for."   
  
A huge smile broke out on the guy's face before a look of confusion crossed it. "SCAD? Is that a culinary school or something? It sounds rather sketchy to be honest."   
  
Harry barked out a loud laugh before he slapped a hand across his mouth. "Not quite. It's an art and design school. I just happen to be fond of baking."  At that, the smile returned and he held out a hand for a shake.   
  
"My name's Niall. We will be here for another four days and if these are truly as good as you claim, you very well might be my new best friend. I will take three of these croissants as well as two cups of coffee and one of those chocolatey scones."   
  
"I'm Harry, and that sounds good." They made small talk as he pulled together the order and rang it up. After paying and gathering the bag and drinks, Niall turned back and set it all onto the counter again.   
  
"I get it if you don't want to, but could I get your number? That way I can maybe text you what we want for tomorrow if these are as good as you claim so I can just stop by and grab it real fast? We've got tight schedules to go by while we are here and you are kinda out of the way as it is and while I know I will get yelled at for being late today, I don't want a repeat if I don't have to, you get me?"   
  
Harry considers this for a minute. He's pretty wary of giving his actual number to this guy but Nick had disconnected the shop phone based on principle, he claimed, after they were supposedly ripped off by the only company who had services for the price he wanted so it was either potentially lose this guy's business or give him his number. He finally decides to go ahead and do it because honestly, he can't really do anything more with the information than a random at a club, right?   
  
Rolling his eyes at himself, Harry holds a hand out for Niall's phone. "My phone is dead right now, forgot to charge it last night, but feel free to text me and let me know what your boss thinks and as soon as it is running again I will let you know I got the message. Then you can text me anytime to give me the order for tomorrow and we will do our best to have it ready at the time specified."   
  
"Thanks, dude! I appreciate it! You're a lifesaver!" He exclaims as he hands over his phone. Harry puts his name and number in and before handing it back, adds some bananas to his name. You can never have too many bananas.   
  
"No problem. Hope he likes the croissants and I will see you tomorrow when he does."   
  
Niall laughs loudly and jogs out the door and into the fancy car waiting for him in front of the bakery leaving Harry once again alone with the food.   
  
******   
  
Harry was pulling his vegetarian lasagna out of the oven and getting ready to watch his favorite romantic comedy when Liam walked into the kitchen in his server's uniform.   
  
"Have time for some dinner before your shift or do you need to head out now?" Harry asks over his shoulder as he pulls out a plate and utensils.   
  
"I've gotta go, but if you could plate some up for me and stick it in the fridge I will eat it after. I have tomorrow night off though, we should do something. We haven't hung out properly in months it feels like. I miss my best friend," Liam pouts as he pins his name tag and other required advertisements on before heading out. "I don't even care what we do, I just miss actually seeing your ugly face."   
  
"Heeyyyyy," Harry protested before snapping a towel at his roommate's butt. "You love my beautiful self, don't lie! But sure. We can have a night out at the club even, since Nick gave me Friday morning off in exchange for today."   
  
"Perfect. Okay, I'm closing so I won't be home until who knows when. See ya tomorrow!"   
  
Harry heard the door close as he grabbed a beer from the fridge and headed with his dinner to their patched together living room. He dropped down onto the couch they had rescued from the curbside and set his beer on the coffee table they had gotten from their neighbors before they moved out of the complex last summer.   
  
The movie started just as Harry's phone alerted him that it was in fact working again by signaling something like 50 million missed text messages and even a couple voicemails. He set his dinner down and crossed the room to where his phone was plugged in, just to make sure nothing was an emergency.   
  
As he expected, the two voicemails were both from his mom with random things she had forgotten to tell him when they chatted yesterday and the texts were mostly from his sister Gemma and an unknown number. He opened it up and found he had missed no less than 12 texts from the number he could only assume belonged to Niall since he never did say whether it was officially him or not.   
  
_Dude! I knew I made a good choice with that scone! Save me one tomorrow? Even if the boss man doesn't want your croissants I've gotta have one of these!_  
 _Perfection._   
  


_What's this crazy stuff hanging from the trees down here? It's kinda freaking me out._  
 _Do you have any flavored coffees? I can't find the Starbucks that is supposedly close to our hotel._  
 _Boss man says your croissants might even beat his C atholic croissants from France! He is requiring at least 2 dozen to share with others tomorrow. That possible?_  
 _PS: I already told him I would have them for him so I hope it is._  
 _I know you won't let me down, Harry. It's just my job._  
 _How fucking hot does it get down here in the summer if this is how it feels in March?_  
 _If I melt I request you have them pour my remains to sea so I can float back to Ireland, the home of my ancestors._  
 _The Atlantic does eventually end in Ireland right?_  
 _Okay so final order for tomorrow: 2 dozen non-Catholic croissants, at least three of those magically delicious chocolatey scones, and two hopefully flavored coffees. Boss man prefers caramel and I like amaretto. Especially if it actually has amaretto in it._  
 _I will be by the shop no later than 6:45. Is that possible to have ready by then? And I was just kidding about the actual amaretto. Not really but totally kidding._   
  
Harry stood there biting his lip, thumbs  hovering over the keyboard as he debated what to address first.   
  
_Sure, we can have the order ready by then, sorry no flavored coffees from our shop, what exactly is the difference between Catholic and non-Catholic croissants?, the crazy stuff hanging from the trees is Spanish moss, you should look it up, and it gets I-would-rather-die-than-spend-more-than-five-minutes-outside hot during the summer here. Did I get everything?_   
  
Moving the phone and charger so he can mess with his phone while eating and watching his movie, Harry finally is able to sit down again. He looks up and sighs right as Harry's biggest celebrity crush, Louis Tomlinson, enters. But really, who doesn't at least somewhat admire Louis? The man has the best cheekbones ever seen. And his eyelashes! Not to mention his crinkly eyed smile, and that isn't even discussing his beautiful tattoos, well toned thighs, and Harry's personal favorite physical trait: Louis' glorious bum.   
  
Now this isn't to say that Harry only watches his films to watch Louis, because that isn't true. He felt Last Summer was totally deserving of a Golden Globe and even he could admit the CGI for the film with his most recent role as the new superhero, Captain Camo, might have been the only positive from the movie outside of Louis in spandex.   
  
But really, Louis was such a good person too! He was so dedicated to his numerous charities and he was constantly doing what he could to help out his small hometown in rural South Dakota that was hit really hard by the downturn of the economy these past several years. But let's be honest, the movie Harry had chosen to watch tonight, And Then She Said, had Louis in a blue fitted three piece suit for most of the film and it accented his ass in a way even the spandex would be envious of and, well, Harry was only human.

By the time it was at the point in the movie where Louis ran through the airport to get to the love interest he of course couldn’t let go and Harry was trying to pretend it wasn’t making him cry, again, his phone finally pinged with a response from Niall.

_Ace!  You’re my hero, Harry!  So what is there to do around here?  What are you up to?_

Harry tried to pull himself together even though he knew Niall couldn’t see him, but he didn’t want to accidentally allude to the fact he was crying over a romcom he chose to watch because of how good Louis looked in a suit.  Alone.  In his apartment.  With some beer.

_There’s the same kind of things to do here as any other place, really.  Eat, club, riverwalk, etc.  Tonight though I’m just chilling at home and watching a movie.  I have an early morning tomorrow, as you know._

There.  Nothing showing how ridiculous he was for a midweek evening for a 21 year old.  He finished the movie and began to clean up before his phone pinged again.

_What movie?_

That’s all he was going to ask?  Harry figured he would at least ask for the name of a club or something, but okay.  

_You can’t make fun.  And Then She Said.  It might even be one of my favorites._

Niall responded much faster this time.

_AHAHA!  Serious?  Nice!  Emma Stone is hot, so I get why you’d wanna watch it._

_Who said I was watching it for Emma?  Her costar holds more interest for me, honestly._

And…yep.  Harry didn’t even think before coming out to this virtual stranger.  Oh well, the guy will be gone from Savannah in just a few days anyway.

_Are you talking about Amanda Seyfried or Louis Tomlinson?_

Harry took the time to go to his room and strip down to his boxers before he answered from the comfort of his own bed this time.

_Amanda does not have the ass to pull off the fitted suit like Louis does. Nor the sass to give life to his lines, either._

Harry did consider for a few minutes how unprofessional it was for him to be having this conversation with a customer, but quickly decided that Nick would have likely gone to far more unprofessional spheres in his  place, so he didn’t figure he needed to stop.  Besides, this Niall guy was a hoot.

_Shut up, we can’t let Louis find out you think that or we’ll never hear the end of it._

Harry’s brows knit in confusion.  What did he mean?  He must be going for sarcasm.  Harry always has such a hard time figuring out when people are being sarcastic and when they are being for real without ample use of emojis.  And even then, it’s debatable.

_Right.  Next time I run into him in the bakery I will be sure not to mention this conversation._

He got up to wash his face and brush his teeth, then he double checked his alarm was set so he wouldn’t have a repeat of today.  By the time he got back to his texts, he found several waiting from Niall again.

_I just had a great idea._   
_You interested in this great idea?_   
_You aren’t responding fast enough so I take that as you are in fact interested, why wouldn’t you be really, so I will tell you my master plan.  Tomorrow night we are having a party here at the hotel to celebrate the halfway point of this project we are working on currently.  Anyway, it’s going to go most of the night and will be a total blast.  You should come!_

Harry was about to say no, but then he remembered he had Friday morning off and Liam would probably be up for a party as well.  At least with Liam there, Harry wouldn’t feel quite so awkward not knowing anyone except Niall.

_You sure that would be okay?  And if I come, my roommate Liam would too.  I promised roommate bonding time tomorrow night._

Within seconds Harry had confirmation of his plans for the next night saying the more the merrier.  It was only after Harry had informed Liam of their new plans for the next night and said goodnight to Niall that he realized he still didn’t know who exactly he worked for or even what exactly they did.  He made a mental note to ask Niall in the morning as he fell asleep.

 

*****

As it turned out, a completely random tour bus stopped by and Nick's was swamped all morning. Harry didn't even get to speak with Niall when he came by because he was already helping some of the senior women get settled and more comfortable in their seats with their breakfast and coffee. 

The six hours worked that day went exceptionally fast, which Harry was grateful for, and he headed home to hang out with Liam until the party started. He got home and found the normally calm and rational boy in the midst of a breakdown, completely surrounded by his entire wardrobe and some of Harry's. 

"Uhhh, Li? What exactly is the problem?"

Harry's voice seemed to shake Liam out of whatever alternate reality his mind had flown off to and he slowly looked around himself before sheepishly grinning at Harry. 

"You know I get nervous with new people, and tonight there's going to be an entire party's worth of people I don't know who are all professionals and actually doing something with their lives and meanwhile I'm just a physical therapy student who isn't even sure if that's what he wants to do and I can't dress myself on a good day and all I keep thinking is they are going to assume I'm a lumberjack if I go wearing my normal clothes so I hope you don't mind I grabbed some of yours..."

Liam finally faded off and took his first good breath when Harry gripped his shoulders and shook him gently. Sometimes Liam’s old insecurities that came from being bullied as a child resurfaced, but he usually just needed a firm reminder that he had put those people in his past.

"Hey, I thought we had worked past some of that by now, yeah? You're great, everyone you meet tonight will think so too, so just be yourself okay? This is not throwing us back to high school or beyond. And I will help you with the clothes, no worries."

Harry and Liam were able to get the room organized again, eat, and get themselves dressed and ready for the party with time to spare so they watched a few episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. before heading out. 

"I know Zayn has said in interviews that he enjoys the more in depth character development he gets from playing characters in Marvel’s series like S.H.I.E.L.D., but do you think that's going to keep him from doing more movies?" 

Harry glanced at his roommate out of the corner of his eye before the light turned green. Liam had an innocent puppy dog look to his big brown eyes which was a crazy juxtaposition to his muscular body. He wore his hair a bit like David Beckham these days so combined with his well-trimmed facial hair and athletic physique, even Harry could admit that his lifelong best friend was quite attractive. The fact this same best friend also harbored a secret, ridiculous crush on Zayn Malik, actor extraordinaire, just reminded Harry why he loved him so much. 

"You just want to know if there is going to be a chance of owning more DVDs with a half-naked Zayn for you to wank to," Harry teased. 

"Oh, sure," Liam scoffed. "You're certainly one to talk, Harry Tomlinson!"

"Heeyyy, you walked in on me once and you suddenly think you know all about it," Harry muttered as he pulled into a parking spot at the swanky hotel where Niall had told him the party was being held. They walked into the lobby and headed towards the bank of elevators. They were still arguing lightly when a large form stepped in front of them, impeding their progress. 

"Uh, hi," Harry greeted as he almost tripped over himself trying to stop so quickly.  He looked around at the rest of the lobby, a bit confused as to why they were being held right in front of the elevator buttons when no one else seemed to be around. 

"Names, please," the tall man requested. Once Harry took a closer look he realized the guy was actually wearing one of those earpieces like you see in movies about the secret service, even if he was dressed in some jeans and a t shirt. 

"Uhhh, Harry? Styles?" he heard himself respond in more of a question than anything. Why this guy thought he and Liam had anything to do with what was obviously some hoity toity function he was involved with was beyond him, but...

"You may go up to the 5th floor, but I must advise there will be no photos allowed under any circumstances or you will be asked to leave and all electronic devices will have to be checked before you go. Have a fun time, gentlemen," the security guard said as he pressed the button which opened the elevator to their left. 

"Right...thanks..." Liam responded, obviously confused about the man’s presence. They entered the elevator and as soon as the doors closed he turned to Harry. "What exactly was that? What kind of party is this? You were on that guy's list and now we are told we can't take any pictures? I swear, Harry, if this ends up being some sketchy rave with drugs or something..."

Harry cut him off right as the doors opened revealing a small hallway that ended in a door being held open by another security guard. They walked towards him as he asked, "Styles?"

Harry knit his brows. This was definitely not what he had been expecting when he accepted Niall's invite. He figured they would start in one of the staff's hotel rooms before heading down to the hotel bar or one of the pubs you can find along the river, not some high security event of some sort. 

He raised his hand and gave what he hoped came off as a self-assured smile. "That's me."

The man nodded and gestured towards the door. The two tentatively walked through the entrance and almost immediately stopped in their tracks. Harry didn't know any of the hotels had penthouse suites in Savannah, but apparently they did and he somehow found himself standing in one of them. 

It was filled to the brim with people who all obviously knew each other and most of which looked like they were dressed in clothes that were nicer than Harry's entire wardrobe could ever dream of being. The large room had tables covered in food and drink and it seemed one of the rooms that branched off was where the music was coming from, judging by the flashing lights emanating from the doorway. 

Harry turned to Liam to whisper something about not being in Kansas anymore but his best friend was frozen to his spot with a look of complete disbelief on his face. Harry looked to his right, the direction Liam seemed to be focused on, and saw a small group of people who had paused their discussion to look towards him in confusion. 

A small group including Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson. 

Harry is fairly sure his jaw actually dropped.

"Li, is that...?"

Liam nods his head emphatically. "I'm about 110% sure that yes. It is."

By now the group had all fully turned towards them and seemed to be skeptical as to what these two college boys were doing at their expensive and well put on industry party. Holy Tom Hiddleston, had Harry been texting and making friends with an actor without knowing? Oh my God, he had made those comments about Louis to Niall and he obviously knows him. What if he told? What will Louis think of him? Was Niall laughing at him this whole time? This was a disaster.

"Hey, how did you get up here?" Zayn asked as he and Louis walked towards them. 

"I - uh, well, we - I guess - were invited?" Harry stammered. Smooth move, slick. God, he needed to pull himself together if he wasn't going to come off as an idiot. Well, more of an idiot.

Louis returned (wait, returned? Where had he gone? Harry really needed to improve his observation skills) and leaned in to Zayn while saying in a quiet voice that Harry could still overhear, "Paul said they were on the list," before turning to them with a small smile that did nothing to hide the confusion still evident in his expression. He licked his lips and...Lord he had the most perfect lips. Pull yourself together, Styles! Stop staring at his mouth. 

Liam cleared his throat, pulling Harry out of his reverie only to realize he had probably been asked a question and he had no idea how to answer it because he had missed it due to the perfect embodiment of sunshine standing in front of him. His eyes widened and he once again became flustered. Continued to be flustered. Whatever. 

"Uh, sorry, what was that?" he questioned. Louis had just opened his mouth to answer when a loud voice Harry did actually recognize from more than just being on his television screen boomed from his left. 

"Harry! Harry's roommate! You made it! So glad you did!" Niall called as he jogged over. He clapped his hand on Harry's shoulder as he fixed him with his massive grin. "So what is your roommate's name anyway?"

"Oh! This is Liam. Liam, this is Niall, the guy I met at the bakery who’s been texting nonstop." 

"Yeah, I figured," Liam responded under his breath before he held out his hand politely. "It's nice to meet you, thanks for inviting us. We certainly weren't expecting," he paused to wave his hands around a bit after they had finished shaking, "well, all of this."

Niall laughed. "I know you didn't! I swear, the looks on your faces when I came up were classic, weren't they, Tommo?"

"Indeed they were," Louis agreed. "Nice to meet you, Liam, and..." he trailed off with his eyebrows raised expectantly as he looked at Harry. There was an awkward pause before Harry realized he was meant to respond. He swears, he is usually so much better at being social than he is right now. 

"Oh! Uh, Harry. 'M Harry." He gave a little wave which once again made Niall start laughing. Louis' eyes seemed to clear in recognition upon hearing his name. 

"Harry? Like, bakery Harry?"

Harry gave a small grin which he hoped would help cover his confusion. "Guilty."

"Niall! You've been withholding important information from me!" Louis reached out and swatted the blond's shoulder. 

"Sorry, bossman! Didn't realize there was any information I had which you'd be interested in," Niall dodged another whack from the smaller man, and really, did Harry ever realize exactly how short he was? That train of thought stopped rather suddenly when something Niall had said struck him. 

"Wait, bossman? Louis is your boss?"

Zayn laughed softly, reminding Harry he was in fact in the presence of not one but two gorgeous men. 

"Ni is Louis' assistant of sorts," he explained, "though from what I can tell all he really does is get Lou food and shove his tasks on others."

"I resent that!" the blond yelled with a delighted smile before turning to Harry and Liam and stage whispering, "Though he might be right!"

Liam laughed at this, but Harry was once again caught in an embarrassed daze.  He had discussed his longing for Louis with the man’s assistant.  There’s no way Louis didn’t know about his infatuation at this point.  Harry could feel himself getting redder in the face as the seconds moved on and he began to consider the implications of that one horrible conversation he had shared with Niall.

A hand clapped on his shoulder and he heard Niall ask him, “Dude, are you okay?  You seem kinda out of it.”

“Oh, yeah, just a bit tired from working so early.  Sorry I didn’t have time to talk with you at all when you stopped by, we were swamped today.” Harry hoped his weak excuse would work.

His attention was quickly brought back to Louis when he quickly became animated and cried, “Yes!  The bakery!  Your croissants are incredible!  Truly.  Might be the best I’ve ever had.”

Harry could feel his blush get stronger and was trying to think of a response when Louis continued.

“The information he so rudely withheld though, when he mentioned he had invited you, was how cute you are.”

If it was possible to choke on air, that’s exactly what Harry just did.  Louis Tomlinson, one of People Magazine’s most eligible bachelors the past two years and running, was calling him cute?  But at the same time, is Harry really only cute?  That’s the kind of term you use for a kitten or a baby hedgehog.

“I’m sorry?” Harry chokes out, unable to come up with another response.  This only caused Louis to smirk.

“You know, cute?  Attractive?  Fit?  You’ve heard of at least one of those terms, haven’t you?”

Harry rolls his eyes and huffs a sigh.  “Of course, I just didn’t expect any of them to be associated with me, at least not by you.”

Louis arched his perfect brow and Harry’s eyes widened as soon as he realized what he had said.

“Shit, uh…”  He looked around while he ran his fingers through his curly hair he had left down for the evening.  It was only then he realized Liam, Zayn, and Niall had all disappeared while he was being caught off guard by unwarranted compliments from Louis.  “Wait.  Where did the others go?”

Louis fixed his fringe that had moved to hang in his eyes and gave a little shrug.  “Said something about grabbing some food.  You interested in eating or perhaps you’d like to dance a bit, Curly?”

Harry was at least a bit more prepared for the come on this time, though no less confused as to what it was about himself that would be of interest at all to a world famous actor who could literally have any boy, straight or otherwise, falling to their knees for him.  He pulled out his coy smile that he knew popped his dimples in a way that couldn’t be resisted and looked at Louis through his eyelashes.  A bit strong?  Who cared.  He’ll probably never have this chance again, so by God he’s going to take it now.

“Already ate, though I could be convinced to do a bit of dancing.”  Harry wasn’t the strongest dancer overall, but he knew how to work what he had when he was trying to pull.  Louis flashed a huge grin that caused his eyes to crinkle and grabbed Harry’s much larger hand with his own.

  
“This way, then.”

   
  
*****  
  
 

 

"Here, hope you don't mind a Jack and Coke!" Louis called in Harry's ear over the music as he handed over a glass with his drink.   "I'm afraid I'm not much good at mixing, but Jack and Coke I honed to an art form before I was 18."

  
Harry smiled at his dancing partner of the past hour or so and took a sip, wincing. 

  
"You sure you put some Coke in here? All I'm tasting is the liquor."

 

The shorter man shrugged as he tried to hold back a smile. "I don't mess with perfection."

 

They chatted a bit more before Fergie's Fergalicious began to play causing Harry to groan quite loud. 

 

"God, I was perfectly fine having put this song in the past. Who is choosing the playlist?"

 

"How very dare you!" Louis cried before he flicked his fringe and downed the rest of his drink. "This happens to be my theme song!"

 

With that he strutted off into the small crowd of dancers. As soon as Harry was able to shake himself out of the stupor Louis' jeggings put him in, he noticed the man looking back at him with a look that obviously said, "And why haven't you followed me yet?" Not knowing the answer himself, Harry quickly returned to his side...just in time for Louis to begin singing and dancing along as though he were Fergie. 

 

“Fergalicious definition make them boys go loco, they want my treasure so they get their pleasures from my photo,” he crooned into Harry’s ear.

 

Louis spun around Harry swiveling his hips and dragging his finger across his chest. As he continued to shake and shimmy, making Harry harder as the seconds dragged on in his all too tight jeans, a circle formed and people began to catcall and cheer. Always the performer, this seemed to only spur Louis on so he began to pull Harry into his little performance. By the end of the first chorus, instead of Fergalicious, the crowd cheered, "Tommolicious!"

 

“I put yo' boy on rock, rock, and he be lining down the block just to watch what I got!”

 

Louis, by this point, was practically grinding on Harry, so he decided to take control. He was barely holding himself together at this point as it was, so he grabbed onto those beautifully toned biceps and spun the curvy tease around. Harry immediately moved his hands to those perfectly formed hips and pulled his firm, round ass decisively back to his crotch. 

 

Louis' gasp of surprise was barely noticeable over the cheers from the crowd, even as close as they were, so Harry began to rock them in time with the music. They had been circling each other's personal space the entire time they had been dancing up to this point, seemingly feeling each other's boundaries, however with the way Louis' pupils left only a small ring of color from how they were blown out with desire, Harry knew exactly how this night was going to end. 

 

He leaned his head forward to breathe in that distinctive musk that held a hint of Tom Ford, sweat, and mint from behind the man's ear before nipping down to gently bite the crook of Louis' neck. Harry felt rather than heard his moan and upon raising his eyes was glad to find their audience had become participants and left them without spectators. 

 

"Harry," Louis rasped as he linked his smaller hand with Harry's on his hip and gave a gentle tug. When he pulled back far enough to see the look on his face, he knew exactly what Louis was suggesting. 

 

"Yes, God. Please," he breathed into his ear and Louis immediately began to tug him through the crowd. 

  
*****  
  
---  
  
 

Harry flicked a sweaty curl that had made its way out of his bun off his forehead before he closed up the oven and began to tray up the fresh scones.  He was grateful for the monotony of the bakery now that spring break was over. His professors had jumped right back into things and Harry had been assigned no fewer than four major projects the past few days, not that he could focus on any of them. 

  
His mind turned back to the party that now seemed like something surreal. He had spent the night chatting and dancing and flirting shamelessly with Louis and somehow had ended the evening in the man's bed. 

  
The sex was...well, honestly it was the best Harry had ever experienced with anyone, much less with a one night stand. Their bodies just seemed made for each other with the way they fit and they already knew exactly what to do to drive the other crazy yet bring the most pleasure possible. Harry didn't know that existed outside of a dedicated relationship and it was absolutely incredible. 

  
He had snuck out before Louis could wake up so he wouldn't have to listen to the awkward excuses as Louis Tomlinson, this massive celebrity who decided to slum it for a night, tried to let the everyday college student Harry Styles down easy before leaving town to continue living his fancy and important life elsewhere. The night almost seemed like a dream until that last moment, that decision that Harry couldn't help but regret at least a little. It had fueled his daydreams for days now, making him think about what it would have or could have been like if Louis hadn't needed to leave...

  
Harry shook his head in frustration and turned towards the bread dough he had left to rise earlier. As he kneaded it a second time he berated himself for thinking like that at all. He knew exactly what he was doing when he had followed Louis to his room, knew it would only be a one off and he still didn't regret that. What he regretted was his mind acting like a teenage girl from a pre-teen story who couldn't get over an infatuation. He was a 22 year old man, he should be able to get past this without any emotional ties. 

"H, you have those scones yet? I'm almost out up here!" Nick yelled from the front. 

"Yeah, they're all ready, let me get the dough rising again and I will be right out!" he called back. 

He covered the bowl once it was sufficiently worked through and washed his hands. He was just about to pick up the tray when his phone buzzed with a text message. He ignored it, but heard two more come through as he pushed through the door to the front of the house. He placed the scones in the display case while Nick, Josh, and Jesy scuttled around helping the current influx of students then snuck to where it was quiet and peaceful in the back.

He grabbed his phone and took a seat at the table in the break room. He had several messages from an unknown number. 

__Is it possible to get used to the heat and humidity in only a few days? Because Toronto is trying to freeze me out after that short time in paradise.  
Niall is saying I'm crazy and is happy to be back north, but I hoped you would agree with me about heat being preferable, especially if it means I get to be near your cute little ass.    
_How is the croissant business going anyway?_

Harry's mouth dropped in surprise. Could it...but why? What would make Louis want to keep in contact with Harry after what was so obviously a one-time deal? This isn't some romance novel Gemma picked up in the grocery store checkout. And what is that comment about his butt about?  Harry bends to peek at his backside, which he sadly finds to still be basically nonexistent.

_ Louis? _

He figured short and to the point was the way to go right now since he was having a hard time breathing. 

_ Yes? _

Harry dropped his phone on the table and covered his face with his hands. He scrubbed at his cheeks and forced his eyes open. So. This is real and happening. The literal man of his dreams was actually reaching out to him after what was truly a great night spent together. A night that was supposed to be with no strings attached. 

Harry didn't sign up for this! But, at the same time, what was so wrong with texting the guy? They would never meet again and he really did get along with him well. Louis was funny and kind and he reached out first, so what was wrong with that? Nothing. 

Internal debate concluded, Harry picked the phone up again. 

_Just double checking I knew who the number belonged to. Don't know too many people who are acquainted with my backside quite as intimately as you who aren’t already in my phone, so… ;)_  

It didn’t take long for his phone to light up as Louis quickly responded.

_ Excuse me!  I’m not sure that there’s anyone who is as well acquainted with it as I am, thank you.  I do believe you said my tongue was “magical”. _

Harry could feel his face heat up as he thought back to the party the week before.  God, had he really said that?  It sounded like him, but he really wished he had some sense of dignity, even when experiencing an orgasm.  But Louis did have a way with his mouth.  And hands. And…oh for the love of all things holy, he just thought that.  In his place of work.  What is he becoming?

_ So, Louis Tomlinson, how did you get my number, anyway?  I’d imagine a certain bubbly blond man had something to do with it? _

His phone vibrated several times as Louis sent numerous texts one right after the other. Harry chuckled, because he could see Louis’ ease and confidence falling to the wayside as each message came through.

__You really do need to get past calling me by my full name. I was balls deep in you just last week, so I’d hope we could be a bit less formal these days.  
And yes, he's the one who gave me your number. :) He assured me you'd be alright with it...if you aren't (it was a bit of a creeper move), I can delete you from my phone and that's the end.    
_God, I sound like an idiot. And desperate. Both of which I swear I'm not._   
_Well maybe a bit desperate._   
_Fuck, why'd I tell you that._

Harry decided to take pity on the guy who for some reason by this point seemed entirely flustered. Because of Harry. How is this his life? He chuckled and figured he would put the man out of his misery. 

_ Louis.  _

_ Yeah? _

_ Calm down.  _

_ Right.  _

_ I'm not creeped out. More just...surprised.  _

_ Really? _

_Absolutely. Now my break is up, but feel free to continue texting me and I will respond when I have a sec. Hope filming is going well_!

Harry slid the phone into his pocket where he resolved to ignore it for the rest of his shift (yeah right, that resolve would last maybe another five minutes) and got back to work. 

  
*****

 

_Harold._

_ How many times do I need to tell you that isn't my name? _

_ At least once more.  _

_ *Sigh* Whatever. Why are you texting me at 3 am? _

_ Why are you responding to my texts at 3 am? Are you thinking of me and my magical ways? _

__Oh my God, I beg of you to let that go.  Besides, I asked you first!  
But I'm pulling an all nighter. Huge exam in the morning and I was so busy finishing a paper and working on my photography portfolio for other classes I spaced and remembered I hadn't studied at about 7 last night.    
_Your turn._

_ Filming just wrapped. Had a big party to celebrate being able to go home for a bit. Couldn't sleep because of the red bull I had earlier tonight.  _

_ Who in their right mind would let you have red bull? _

_Niall thought it would be funny.  
Anyway, what exactly is this?_

 

_That's a photo off my Instagram. Are you stalking my IG?_

__No.  
Maybe.    
_But why does your food look like a snake pooping fire?_

_ It's sushi and it was a caterpillar roll. So they made it look like a caterpillar. I thought it was clever and good presentation. It tasted good too.  _

_ Of course it did.  _

_ I can feel your sarcasm.  _

__Good. I like it when you can feel me.  
And taste me.     
_I bet I tasted better than that so called caterpillar._

_Oh God, you REALLY need to get to sleep if you are sending me lines like that._

_ That was pure brilliance, I'll have you know! _

_ Right. Good night, Louis.  _

_ Hey, I'm not finished with you yet! _

_ Sleep well! _

_ Oh you're no fun. I was hoping we could get some sexting going. _

_ Not if you’re starting it off with lines like that.  I will have you know I am very skilled at sexting but right now you need to get to sleep. _

__Such a tease!  
But I will do as you say and get to bed now.   
_Good luck on your exam! xx_

_ Thanks xx _

  
*****

 

_"I'm so happy I get to experience all of this...with you!"_

_ What the hell are you on, Harold? _

_ Nothing. Just experiencing the brilliance that is Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.  _

_ You're watching a movie marathon on ABCFamily again, aren't you? _

_ Well they kicked it off with one of your classics, the Truth About Forever, so I couldn't say no to that and I might have just not changed the channel afterwards.  _

_ Ohhhh nooooo you are no longer allowed to watch my movies without prior approval.  _

_ You're not the boss of me.  _

_ What are you, 12? _

_ My mother likes to say I retained my childlike innocence, thank you.  _

_Well she obviously doesn't know about some of your extracurricular activities.  
What would she say if she saw that racy picture you sent me last night?_

_ Shut up.  _

_ You love me.  _

_Whatever._  

  
*****

 

Harry’s phone pinged with a text and as he was expecting, it was Louis.

_ Hey, you have a minute to jump on Skype? _

_ Sure, just a sec.  _

Harry closed out of yet another paper he was writing, this time a 10 page thesis on how photojournalism changed print media, and logged onto Skype. Within minutes he had a call coming in from Louis. He accepted right away and waited for the video to load. 

"Harold?" Louis' voice rang out through the speakers but the screen stayed blank. 

"Yeah, I'm here. I don't have video for you yet, though. Can you see me?"

"Yes, I see you're wearing the headscarf I sent you. Glad you got it!"

Pixels began to come through and suddenly a clear picture of a caramel skinned Louis appeared. Harry could practically feel his dimples appear as he smiled widely. 

"Sure did. Thanks for that, by the way. So how are you, stranger?"

The Louis on screen gave one of his full bodied shrugs and waved a hand around. 

"Been on set in Hawaii pretty much ever since the last film wrapped so it's a rough life, but I think I will survive."

Harry rolled his eyes. "As if you let me forget. You've sent me the view from your room every day since you got there, I think."

Louis broke out in a huge grin. Harry was glad he was lying on his bed so he didn't need to worry about his knees going weak at the sunshine that seemed to flow from his smile. 

"Needed to make sure you appreciated the beauty, Curly!"

"Yeah, yeah,” Harry rolled his eyes.  “So why the special occasion of a Skype call, hmm? Not that I didn't miss seeing that ugly mug of yours, but usually you just text unless we plan one of these chats ahead of time," Harry questioned as he grabbed his water bottle off the nightstand. He took a few swigs before he turned back to the screen to see Louis nervously biting his bottom lip. "Uh oh, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I was just wondering if you had any plans next week for Easter weekend."

"Well, I took several days off work because I was initially going to go back home to Virginia to be with my mom and Gemma since school has a four day weekend, but Gem decided to go to Birmingham to meet her boyfriend's parents and my mom and Robin decided they would go visit my Gran in New York so I'm just sticking around here." He screwed up his face a bit. "Actually, I think Li is heading home still so maybe I will pick up some shifts after all to fill my time...why do you ask?"

"Well," Louis cleared his throat and took a deep breath before continuing. He was acting really nervous, which in turn made Harry nervous. What was he so worked up about? "I'm going to be in Atlanta doing some stuff next week and I don't have any promo or anything going on for a few days and I know that's not exactly close to you, but it is at least the same state and that's a lot closer than we have been in just over a month now so I was thinking if you aren't against the idea that maybe I could come down and visit you?" Louis had started speeding up his speech as the explanation continued to the point where it was difficult to understand what he was saying at the end, but Harry thought he got the gist and his jaw promptly dropped.

"You want to come see me?" He shook his head before stumbling out some more words.  “Or…or have me come to see you?  Either way, you want to meet up again?”

"Uhm...well...yeah, is that bad?" Louis shifted and did what he does when he is unsure of himself, where he messes with the collar of his shirt and adjusts it on his shoulders. It allowed part of his chest tattoo to peek through the neck and at the glimpse he got of the flowing script reading “It is what it is” Harry's stomach flopped more than it already was. 

"No," Harry responded slowly. "Just caught me off guard. Didn't know you'd ever wanna see me again, is all. At least not in person.  Figured you’d wanna keep it digital or whatever."

Louis gave a soft smile. "Of course I want to be with you again. Why wouldn't I? Do you think I’m like this with everyone I try to keep at arm’s length?"

"I dunno, I just..." Harry was about to cobble together some sort of explanation of I'm just me and Don't you have more exciting friends? and But that doesn't make any sense when you're you when Liam knocked and opened his bedroom door. 

"Hey, Haz. There's someone at the door for you, she said she's in your World War II class and she's here to work on a project?"

"Shit, I forgot about that and didn't get the books I should have. Okay, thanks, Li! I'll be right out." Harry turned back towards his laptop. "I'm so sorry, Lou, I've gotta go. I'll text you later, yeah?"

"Course. You go be all studious and smart. Let me know what you think about that weekend when you have a minute, okay?"

Harry smiled. "Yeah, will do."

"Damn, is that Louis Tomlinson?!"

Harry turned in shock to find a girl with a head of lavender hair standing in his doorway. Didn't he tell Liam he would be right out? Why would he send Perrie back? Oh well, too late now. 

"Nope, well, I mean, yeah it is, but it's just a lesser known movie of his I was watching because my sister asked me to...let me just close out of it here..." Harry turned with a blush burning on his cheeks and made big eyes at computer Louis, hoping he understood his apology in them and clicked out of Skype in record speed. "There. Now, come on in!"

"That was not a movie, Harry Styles,” Perrie admonished as she easily made herself at home in his room. ”First off, I know a Skype screen when I see one. Second, you are a horrible liar. How in the world do you know the Louis Tomlinson?"

Harry sat and debated with himself as Perrie set her stuff on his desk. The only person, as of now, who knew about his...friendship? Relationship? Night together?...whatever with Louis was Liam. It would be nice to be able to talk about it with someone else who might be a bit less prone to just side with Harry for everything and he knows Perrie is trustworthy. 

Harry heaved a sigh and looked at her with caution. "You swear not to tell a soul if I tell you everything?"

She solemnly held out her pinky as she said, "Pinky swear."

He linked his own with hers and they shook as she settled in next to him on his bed.

 

*****

  
_So if I were to agree to Easter weekend, how do you propose the visit work? Would you come to me?_

Harry had finally decided, after much egging on from Perrie, that he might as well go for the meetup and see what happens. He still wasn't sure what would come from it, or what he even wanted to have come from it, but he did enjoy chatting with Louis. And if they had some more really great sex, well, Harry certainly wasn't against that. He’d been having a bit of a dry spell since that party, anyway.

_I thought I could come to you, yeah. Just get to actually enjoy each other's presence. Do whatever you feel like._

_I could make us Easter dinner, how does that sound?_

_I will only agree to that if I can make you dinner one night as well._

_Fair enough. So I guess I will be seeing you next week?_

_Bet your ass you will._

_I'd rather not put my bum on the line. I'm rather fond of it._

_So am I, Curly. ;)_   
_So...should I actually make a hotel reservation or just save the money since you won't be letting me leave your bed most of the weekend anyway?_

Harry actually squawks in protest when he reads Louis' last text. Of course he was basically a sure thing, but Louis didn't need to be so obvious about it. 

_ Rude! Besides I'm sure some swanky actor like you can afford a room whether you use it or not. How dare you insinuate I am easy! _

_ Not easy for everyone, but maybe for me.  _

Harry sighs and his thumb hovers over the send button before he finally hits it and tosses the phone away. 

_ Maybe. xx _

Harry rubs his face and groans. He is so screwed.  

******

"But Perrie, what do I wear when I'm trying to impress the man I think I want to have as my boyfriend but isn't interested in more than just a fling?"

Harry was rifling through his mostly thrift store acquisitions in his closet trying to figure out what was casual but still flattering without screaming, "Wait till you see my pink fuzzy handcuffs!" which, thanks to Gemma, he may or may not have in a special box under his bed. 

"What about your Rolling Stones shirt you always wear? It hugs your shoulders perfectly and pair it with your skinny blue jeans," Perrie suggested, voice tinny through his speaker phone setting. 

"How is that any different from what I usually wear?"

"Babes, you don't want to do different. You need to impress him with you. Besides, the fact that he is coming back to see you again tells me he is already loving what you have shown him of you."

Harry took a deep breath and slowly pushed it out of his puffed cheeks. "Yeah, I guess. But what should I wear on Sunday? It's Easter and I'm making us dinner. That should be a bit more fancy, right?"

A knock sounded at Harry's front door before Perrie could answer. He pulled the phone away from his ear and his eyes widened.

"Shit! He's here early!" he whisper yelled into his phone before calling, "Just a second!" towards the door. 

"You'll be fine. Just hurry and get dressed. Unless you want to answer the door in just those yummy black boxer briefs of yours, but I think that's sending a different message than you're looking for," she chuckled. 

"I hate you. Have a good weekend, Pez."

"You too, H. Enjoy yourself!" 

He ended the call, tossed the phone onto the bed, and grabbed the first pair of clean jeans he could find and yanked them expertly up his legs before ripping a slightly oversized plain white shirt over his head. He ran his fingers through his hair trying to sort it out as best as he could as he jogged across the small living room and opened the door. 

Harry tried to remember how to breathe as Louis reminded him that no matter how beautiful you think he is, he is even more overwhelming in person. His hair was soft in a slightly messy fringe and hanging longer than it had last time he had been in town. He had a couple day's worth of scruff on his face defining his jaw in such a way that it rivaled his cheekbones for favorite facial feature. He was dressed comfortably in a pair of sweatpants and tennis shoes with a green hoodie that offset his blue eyes. Just, he was so perfect all Harry found himself being able to think was he wanted to take his picture.

It took an expectant smile and Louis shuffling his feet to finally get Harry to break himself from his rather embarrassingly focused review of the man in front of him. He sucked in some air and chuckled at himself. 

"Oops, sorry. Come on in."

"Hi," Louis chuckled. "I was wondering if you were going to make me beg to come in off the step or something."

"Well, you did show up about an hour early so you couldn't blame me if I did." Harry shut the door behind them as Louis kicked off his shoes then turned around for a hug. Harry pulled him into his chest and breathed in deeply smelling undertones of his cologne as well as the spring flowers blooming all around Harry's complex. 

"I thought I would surprise you. Sorry if it ruined any plans you had, like perhaps your clothing choices?" Louis pulled back and had a sharp look in his eyes. In response to Harry furrowing his brow in confusion, Louis indicated the neck of his shirt. 

Harry flushed when he realized he had his shirt on backwards. He immediate set about turning it around as Louis laughed. 

"Had to throw it on really fast since you caught me off guard. Wasn't exactly decent," he explained. 

"Never asked you to be," Louis quipped. 

"I..." Harry fish mouthed for a minute while he tried to pull himself together. "Usually I'm much better at comebacks than I seem to be at the moment."

The crinkles around Louis' eyes that Harry liked so much appeared as he smiled even wider. 

"I think we know each other well enough by now that you don't need to lie, dear Harold." Louis bounced on his toes as he began to peek at some of the photos Liam and Harry had tacked onto the wall behind their couch.  

"Now, are you going to show me around your humble abode or just let me explore on my own?"

 

*****

 

Harry blinked awake and was confused to find the TV glowing in an otherwise dark apartment. That lingering sense of the dream world meshing with real life had caught him and he rubbed his eyes as he attempted to straighten what was real from what was fictional and wake up. 

It was light out last he remembered, that much he knew. And there were the remnants of the Irish pub food Louis had convinced him to get for dinner on the coffee table. And...oh. Right. The menu flashing on the screen is for A Knight's Tale and Louis is curled up into Harry's left side. Apparently both of them fell asleep during the movie, but when did they get so close on the couch?

Harry began to feather his fingers through Louis' soft caramel colored hair. Even in the darkness he could see the almost blond streaks that had appeared from all his time in the sun in Hawaii and it was mesmerizing. Louis snuffled a bit before shifting a bit more into Harry's side and his breathing regulated again. 

Harry was finally getting annoyed with Heath Ledger's scream that for some reason was on repeat as the menu continued to loop so he flipped off the TV and DVD player, dousing the room in darkness. He tried to scoot himself out from beneath Louis without disturbing him too much so he could draw the blinds and grab a blanket and pillow for him. He gently laid him down on his side and Louis repositioned himself easily before his soft snuffling sound he made in sleep started up again. 

Harry softly smiled as he grabbed a throw pillow from the floor and one of his favorite fleece blankets. He eased the pillow beneath his head and tenderly swiped Louis' fringe out of his face. Convinced the man was comfortable and wouldn't wake up cold, Harry allowed himself to just admire Louis. 

While he was usually all edges when he was awake due to his angular cheekbones and jaw, in sleep Louis was all relaxed curves. His long eyelashes brushed his cheeks and his mouth seemed to almost be a pout. The way he was laying on his side also accented his natural waistline and hips. The perfection of the man in front of him was too much for him to resist so he quickly padded to his room for his camera. 

Once he had adjusted the settings to be exactly what he wanted, soft and not overexposed but using the natural light from the moon that was still seeping through the blinds rather than a harsh flash, Harry began to play with angles. Yes, he wanted to focus on the turn of Louis' wrist as it hung over the edge of the sofa. Perhaps a close up of his left ankle that was peeking out from the blanket. A full body shot that used the contrast of the blanket against the color of the couch to display his silhouette. 

Harry quietly rose from his crouching position and gazed at the man resting on his couch. He leaned over and kissed his hair before he whispered, "Goodnight, Lou," and headed back to his room. 

He returned his camera to his case and pulled his shirt and jeans off before climbing into bed. He got himself comfortable, closed his eyes and just laid there. And laid there. And laid there.  

He dug around on the floor for his phone that he had forgotten to plug in and saw it had died at some point during the movie, probably because his battery couldn't keep up with the nervous texts and calls Harry had made almost nonstop to both Liam and Perrie before Louis had gotten there. He plugged the phone in and propped his pillow up against the wall before sitting down. 

As he waited for the phone to charge enough to turn back on, his thoughts turned back to Louis. Who would have thought that just around a month ago they had met and become good enough friends that they are where they are now?

But...where exactly are they now? The first night they met they ended up in bed together, but what he had assumed would be a one and done had obviously turned into something else. Were they just friends? Their texts suggested otherwise. Louis could hardly go a conversation without referencing their night together and Harry himself often went heavy on the sexual puns. Even now, a month after the only time they had seen each other in the flesh, they had constantly found reason to touch and tease the other. 

There seemed to be more than just the sexual heat that permeated the space between them before now though. Through their quiet Thursday afternoon and evening together they had laughed quite a bit, been at ease with each other, and to Harry at least it felt as though they had always known each other. Even so, Harry could almost feel the want in Louis' gaze at times. If Harry was being honest with himself, it is quite likely Louis could feel a similar want in Harry's. 

Harry's room lit up at the same time his phone vibrated in a showing of life. He grabbed it and found it was about 2 am and yet here he was unable to sleep. He had just decided to pull up Perrie to give her the details she had deemed necessary when his bedroom door slowly opened and Louis' head popped in. 

"Hey," he whispered. "Sorry for falling asleep on you. What time is it?"

Harry smiled and waved Louis in as he moved over to make room on the bed. 

"Just about 2. Don't worry about falling asleep, I did too."

They both laid down on their sides facing each other and pulled the blankets up to ward off the chill of the air conditioning. Louis yawned and covered his mouth with his hand. 

"I'm usually much more lively than this, but my schedule has been a bit crazy the past week and I guess it has caught up to me." He snuggled up into Harry's space and his eyes fluttered closed again. "Hope you don't mind sleeping more."

Harry wrapped his arms around Louis and began to rub his back. "Course not. Sleep well, Lou."

"Mmm..." was all he could get out as his breathing evened and he fell back asleep. 

Minutes later Harry followed suit. 

  
*****

 

When Harry blinked his eyes open next, his room was filled with light and there was a warmth pressed to his back. He smiled to himself as he realized that despite being physically larger in stature, he had ended up being cuddled as the little spoon. He could definitely get used to this. 

Harry could also get used to being woken to kisses running down his back and gentle hands running up and down his chest. He pressed back into Louis' embrace and gave a soft hum. Or at least it started that way. It turned into more of a groan as he felt Louis' morning wood and probable cause to his waking up in this lovely manner. 

Louis' fingers began to move with more purpose and pressure as they skated up and tweaked Harry's nipples. He let out a hiss but felt his dick thicken at the same time. 

Louis let out a soft chuckle before giving it a try again with a similar reaction from Harry. As Harry began to swivel his hips, Louis let out a moan himself before giving a quick nip to Harry's shoulder. 

"God, Haz. Do you even know how hot you are?" They continued to grind into each other on the bed before Harry turned his head toward Louis to claim his mouth for a kiss. He also grabbed Louis' stuttering hand and moved it down to the inside of his boxer briefs. Right as Louis had taken hold of Harry's now rock solid cock, Louis' phone, which apparently was somewhere in the bed with them, began to ring. Very loudly. 

"Just ignore it. It can't be too important, I triple checked that nothing could even come up this weekend before I came," he grunted out as he began to pump, using Harry's pre-cum as lubricant. 

Harry thinks he might have whimpered in reply but he had just woken up and he now had Louis' very skilled hand on him. Stronger men would have been at a loss for words too. Right as he was about to spin around so he could more easily kiss Louis as well as help him along at the same time, Louis' phone began to ring again. 

"Think...you should actually...maybe get...that..." He reluctantly panted. 

Louis stilled and leaned his forehead at the base of Harry's neck and let out a groan of obvious frustration. He removed his hand from Harry's underwear and they both began to search the covers for the loud device. Louis found it right before it went to voicemail and answered with a clipped, "Yeah?"

As Harry turned onto his back, he could see a look of concern form on the other man's face. 

"Okay, yeah, just a sec," he said into the phone before pulling it away from his face and leaning in to peck Harry's cheek. "Sorry, babe, but I do need to take this. I'll keep it as short as I can."

Harry nodded and watched as Louis awkwardly got up out of the bed and adjusted himself before leaving to continue the conversation in the living area. Harry stretched, popping his back, then got up and threw on a pair of sweats before heading to the kitchen. To say the least, the call had ruined the mood and he found he was actually quite hungry. 

Harry pulled the pancake mix out of the cabinet and started the frying pan heating up. He was mixing the water in when he heard Louis ask in a concerned tone, "Okay, so when is the surgery?"

That caused Harry to freeze. Surgery? Who was ill? They had mentioned family before, but last he heard everyone on Louis' end was in good health other than the youngest set of twin siblings he had, both of whom had regressed to waking up during the night again due to a head cold they continued to pass back and forth between them, much to Louis' mother's frustration. 

Harry set the batter down on the counter and turned off the heat under the pan and went to the door of the kitchen to lean against the doorway where he could both see and hear Louis. Louis was standing with his hand in his hair looking out the window, his entire body the definition of tense. He turned around, presumably to begin pacing again when saw Harry and paused. Keeping eye contact he said, "Okay, well I will let you know what I'm able to work out. Love you. Bye," and hung up. 

"Who needs surgery? Is everything okay?"

Louis set about nervously fixing his fringe and grimaced. "It's my mom. Apparently she has appendicitis and it hasn't ruptured yet, so that's good, but she needs surgery and my step dad is away for business and can't come back until after the weekend, and the oldest two girls are at school, one studying in London, so neither of them can go to help out with the kids. Right now the kids are with the neighbors, but they obviously can't watch them for too long so unless I want to hire someone, which I really don't, I need to go take care of them."

"Oh no! They say your mom will be alright?" Harry walked over to Louis and wrapped him in a hug. Louis relaxed into it and let out a deep breath. They rocked back and forth in a manner that was perhaps more intimate than their relationship normally would call for, but what about them had been normal from the beginning?

Harry felt Louis smile into his neck. "Yeah, but she needs to have surgery as soon as possible so it sounds like they are taking her in this afternoon and depending on how it goes she could be out by tomorrow or in a few days. I'm sorry to cut my trip short, but..."

Harry shook his head emphatically. "No, do not worry about me. Go take care of your family. I can see you another time, yeah?"

"Yeah," Louis whispered back. "I've gotta call Niall and see if I can get flights figured out and all that jazz."

"Okay. I'll go back to making pancakes. I'm not letting you leave without eating breakfast at least." Harry swatted Louis' bum before he made his way back to the kitchen. 

"Cheeky!" Louis called after him before taking his phone back into Harry's room. 

Harry hummed to himself as he made the pancakes and grabbed a couple of bananas from the bunch he had bought the day before. He plated up the pancakes and walked them towards his room. He hadn't heard Louis speaking for a few minutes so he figured it was safe for him to speak as he walked in, focused more on balancing the food than his surroundings. 

"Would you prefer your pancakes a la Liam or a la Harry?" He put the plates down on his desk and turned towards Louis only to find him with a nervous look on his face he was obviously trying to cover up for Harry. 

"Wait, what's wrong?" Harry rolled his eyes at himself before clarifying, "I mean in addition to what I already know."

Louis let out a soft chuckle which relaxed Harry a bit. If he was laughing the situation couldn't be much worse than what he already had been told. 

"I called my mom to see how she was and check if she thought the neighbors needed some help until I got there. It turns out my mom was watching my aunt's kids as well so there are currently seven kids under the age of 10 in the house, three of which are in diapers."

Harry's eyes grew large and he let out a whistle. "Wow. That's a lot for one person. How was your mom doing it? How are you going to do it?" Upon posing those questions he saw Louis tense up even more. Harry felt awful that he forgot that the confident air Louis usually had about him was gone ever since he got the call. "Oh god, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to make you worry even more! Uhhh..."

Harry wracked his brain trying to think of solutions. Louis had already said he didn't want to hire anyone to help and being that he moved his family to live near him in California once he had experienced a bit of success so they didn't have any family nearby to help, other than the aunt who is already out of town. 

"Well, I think you'd be fine if you had someone to help you. Would Niall be able and willing to help you out?"

"He's visiting his family for Easter weekend, being the good Catholic boy he is. I'm lucky he had his phone on him to help me get the flights worked out."

"Right, I forgot about the holiday with everything else. Too bad I don't have the money to get myself there or I'd volunteer to help. I love kids." Harry began chewing on his lip as he played with the syrup. "We should eat while we brainstorm. Food for thought and all."

"Right..." Louis mumbled, not even responding to Harry's play on words as he typed into his phone. "What's the deal with pancakes Liam or pancakes Harry?"

"Pancakes a la Liam are just plain old pancakes. Pancakes a la Harry have bananas on them!" Harry proclaimed. 

"Of course they do," Louis smirked, a bit of his usual attitude coming back. "I'll take Liam's. Don't want to ruin a perfectly good breakfast with fruit."

"You're so weird, but here you go. Oh! I forgot the butter. Be right back."  He jogged into the kitchen and grabbed the butter tray from the counter and a knife before heading back to the room. 

"What do you have going on on Monday, H?" Louis yelled, somewhat muffled as if he hadn't waited for the butter. Heathen. 

"Uhhhh," Harry cocked his head as he thought.  He had Monday's off work because that's usually his day for the dark room, but one of the beginner's classes scheduled all of them at the beginning of the semester so he just had an assignment due that evening for his history of photography course. "Just need to turn in a paper I luckily finished yesterday. Why?"

Louis beamed and typed something back into his phone before responding. "Fancy packing a bag and joining me for a long weekend in California? Niall worked it so we both have seats on a flight that leaves this afternoon if you were serious about your offer earlier. We'd be able to get you back on Monday evening."

Harry's mouth dropped open. "Yeah, but I think you missed the part about how I'm a poor college student living off of his loans right now so I don't really have the funds for any kind of flight, no matter how much I would love to help you."

"Of course you aren't paying for yourself if you're coming to help me! I would consider it my way of thanking you for all the exhaustion and cooking we are going to put you through these next few days. Not to mention the diapers. I might be a pro myself, but three is a bit much for me to handle." Louis put on his cheesiest grin and began to beg. "Please, Curly? We could still have our weekend together. We'd just have a two or three or seven more kids involved than what was originally planned." 

Harry snorted as Louis stood up and wrapped him in a big hug. "You could even make Easter dinner still, it would just have to be a bit larger than you thought. What do you say?"

"I say it's amazing you have a career as an actor and that anyone takes you seriously. If they saw this side of you, you'd be laughed out of Hollywood." Harry teased. 

Louis just pulled back and stuffed half of a pancake in his mouth and crossed his eyes before speaking with his mouth full. "I do' know wha you meang, I awm beau'ifoo and goo ah mah gob."

Harry barked out his embarrassingly loud laugh and pushed at Louis. "You're ridiculous, but sure. I'll come help out."

Louis jumped up and smacked a kiss on Harry's mouth before bouncing out of the room without his breakfast. "You're the best man I've ever known! I'll tell Niall to book them so get packing, Haz!"


	2. Part Two

Harry had never felt so posh in his life. They got to take the VIP entrance at the Savannah airport after being picked up by Louis' fancy car guy and then they waited in the special restricted lounge. None of which Harry knew existed until today. They then flew first class, which he had only dreamed of ever seeing on a large commercial flight like this, and left through the VIP exit again once they got to LAX. 

Harry let out a sigh as he observed the passing scenery outside the window.  He just couldn’t believe that his first trip to California was being paid for and accompanied by Louis Tomlinson.  And that he was sitting in a private car with a professional driver being taken to Louis’ mother’s house.  He finally couldn’t keep his thoughts to himself so he turned to Louis and waited for him to notice.

Louis let out a chuckle before he also turned in his seat to look at Harry. "What?"

"You have a personal driver here? Like for all the time?"

Louis' warm blue gaze lingered on Harry's face as his smile somehow grew to be even brighter than what it already was. 

"No, not all the time. Mainly just when I've been at industry parties and I know I shouldn't drive myself home or for special occasions like this one where I'm trying to impress someone." Louis winked in a completely exaggerated manner and Harry couldn't help but shake his head in response. 

"And do you try to impress boys very often?"

At that the driver scoffed before he apologized. "Sorry, Mr. Tomlinson."

"Oh please, Fred. Do speak your mind. I know I couldn't stop you even if I wanted to anyway." Louis turned to Harry and in a whisper shout he obviously intended for the driver to hear said, "Fred here thinks he knows me better than anyone else in the industry."

"I do know you better! Anyway, Mr. Styles -"

Harry immediately cut him off, "Please call me Harry. It makes me feel uncomfortable and old when people call me Mr. Styles."

"Of course. So, Harry, as to your question about impressing, I can tell you that you are the first since Martin that Louis here has been interested in wooing."

Louis squawked indignantly and reached up to smack at Fred's shoulder. The older man laughed heartily and continued to drive. Meanwhile, Harry's brows raised about to his hairline in surprise. 

"The first since Martin? But didn't you two break up over a year ago now?"

Louis shrugged his shoulders somewhat nervously and looked in Harry's direction but not quite at his face as he mumbled, "Hadn't really found anyone I wanted to show off for since then."

"So what am I, then?" Harry asked softly, yanking a bit on his hair. Honestly, if Louis just thought he was a nice boy he wouldn't mind finding in his bed again then it is better he finds out now.

Wait, what is Harry thinking? Of course that's all Louis wants from him! Why would he think otherwise? Just because he had taken that extra flight to come down to Savannah from Atlanta to spend the weekend with him doesn't mean he is interested in anything more than just some good sex. That was mostly what he seemed to have focused on with his teasing when they were texting beforehand and...God, Harry feels like a bit of an idiot now. He had started to think maybe they could possibly be more than friends. He isn't sure when exactly that happened, but he thinks it was somewhere between the aborted hand job just that morning and Louis making it known he actually wanted Harry with him out here, helping him take care of his sisters and cousins. 

Harry was shaken out of his thoughts by Louis' hand reaching up and tenderly touching his fingertips to his temple before tucking a wayward strand of hair behind his ear.

"Well, you're definitely special. For sure someone I'd like to impress." Harry leaned his head into Louis' touch as his heart began to race. All his insecurities began to melt back to where they had come from. Louis scooted over so he was sitting flush up against Harry and leaned into his ear before whispering, "Is it working at all?"

Harry couldn't help the shivers that ran up and down his spine and the feel of Louis' breath against the sensitive skin behind his ear. He cleared his throat a bit before swallowing in an attempt to be able to speak again and was barely able to get out a whispered response of, "Yeah. Yeah, I...I think so.”

Louis was now nuzzled into his neck so Harry felt rather than saw his smile. "Good." 

Louis then began running kisses up and down Harry's jaw line before punctuating it with a light nip to the thin skin over Harry's Adam's Apple. His breath hitched and his arms reached up to grip Louis' shoulders. He glanced towards Fred to see how awkward it would seem being right there with him only to find that sometime in the past few minutes the partition had been raised. 

Unable to find another reason not to completely enjoy this, Harry grabbed onto Louis' head and pulled him up from where he was currently sucking a mark onto his collarbone to his mouth. Their kiss turned filthy within minutes and both boys seemed focused on doing all they could to get as close as possible to the other.  

Louis then moved and straddled Harry's lap without detaching their lips, weaving his fingers into Harry's loose curls before experimentally rolling his hips and eliciting a low groan from Harry. Harry's cock was already fattening up nicely, but the feel of Louis' own erection through his tight jeans against Harry's caused it to go to full hardness in seconds. 

Harry detached his lips from Louis' to catch his breath a bit and began to work his way down to the tattoo that was peeking out of Louis' neckline. He nipped at the word "what" that was right in the middle of the phrase at the same time his hands gripped Louis' hips and pulled him down to match his quick thrust up. The combination seemed to almost punch a breath out of Louis and he moaned a quiet, "Oh, God. Harry," into his ear. 

Taking that as a sign of approval, Harry continued to work on Louis' chest tattoo and slowly slid his hands beneath Louis' shirt so he could tuck his hands down inside Louis' jeans in order to grab firm handfuls of his fleshy bum. As Harry kneaded the muscle, Louis ground down in earnest. They were both getting worked up enough that their breath was beginning to stutter when Fred's voice was heard from the front. 

"We should be at your mom's place in the next 10 minutes or so, Louis."

Both boys stopped where they were and Louis leaned his forehead against Harry's. They both panted, trying to calm their hearts and lungs. 

"Yeah, okay!" Louis called back. 

Harry let out a low chuckle before finally removing his hands from Louis' pants and giving him a bit of a smack. Louis let out a bit of a squeak right as Harry whispered, "Good Lord, what does a guy have to do to get off around here?"

Louis tucked his head into Harry's neck and dissolved into giggles. Harry had never heard anything so adorable. 

"Maybe we'll have better luck in the guest room tonight. You know, after bedtime for the kids."

"Mmm...hope so."

Louis pulled himself off of Harry and they both tried to fix their hair, clothing, and the semis they were still sporting to make themselves presentable. No need to embarrass themselves in front of Louis' neighbor. 

They continued to giggle and smile at each other like school boys the next couple of minutes until the car stopped. Both of them climbed out of the vehicle before meeting Fred at the trunk to gather their bags. 

"Thanks again for coming on such short notice, Fred. I appreciate it," Louis thanked. 

Fred returned his smile and sent a wink. "Of course. Let me know when you need me to get your man here again and have a good weekend."

"Oh get out of here!" Louis called over his shoulder from where he was already starting up the driveway. Harry could feel his blush as he followed Louis and he finally allowed himself to look at the house they were walking up to. It wasn't absurdly huge considering the number of people it housed, but it reminded Harry of some of the mansions his friends grew up in in Northern Virginia. While Harry's family was not well off by any means, they weren't poor either. It just felt that way when the rest of the kids at his school had parents who brought in enough money to give the kids an entire wing of the house to themselves. 

That's what this house reminded him of. The difference here was Louis had gifted it to his mom and with the number of kids in his family, the size was probably quite fitting. 

They walked up to the door but right as Louis was reaching for the handle it whipped open and a young girl rushed into his arms. Following close behind was a second almost identical looking female bullet screaming his name. Louis happily caught both in his arms and gave a growl as he spun them around. 

"Dais! Phoebs! Look at you! I feel like it's been forever since I've seen you!" he cried in an overdramatic manner. 

The girls giggled before one of them replied, "You're so crazy, Lou. We just saw you earlier this week!"

He set them down and scrunched up his face. "Are you sure? I could have sworn it was longer."

The other wasn't saying anything but was watching Harry carefully. He smiled gently and waved at her. She gave a small smile before tucking her face into Louis' shoulder. 

Harry turned towards the door when he felt rather than heard a new presence join them. When he looked over he found a somewhat harried looking woman who had to be the neighbor.

"You must be the friend Louis promised was coming with him so he wouldn't have to deal with this lot alone," she stated more than questioned. 

"That's right, ma'am. My name's Harry. It is lovely to meet you."  He held a hand out towards her and she finally broke into a grin. 

"Goodness, Louis. Where did you find this one? Quite different from people you meet around here. My name is Gladys." She sent a wink Harry's way before she continued speaking to Louis. "I say you can keep this one. He actually practices manners. And he is quite the looker as well!"

At that Louis gave a loud protest to be heard over Harry's embarrassed laughing. "I resent that! You can't go stealing him from me, I called dibs!"

"Oh, come on, Lou. I'm not just a hunk of meat! I demand to be treated like a person, just like any self-respecting girl would!" Harry teased. 

"But you're a boy, not a girl," the quieter of the twins remarked. 

"Of course he is a boy, Phoebe. But he is still a person!" Daisy, apparently, added on. 

"Yes, he is a boy and a person and therefore, just as all people do, boys and girls alike, he deserves to be treated with respect. Isn't that right?" Louis said, suddenly serious and going into a teacher mode Harry found unexplainably hot. 

Daisy rolled her eyes before saying, "Yeah, yeah."

"Well, are you planning on coming inside anytime soon? I'd rather not let in too many bugs. I also need to run because my son has soccer practice and my daughter has a piano lesson!" Gladys  turned and walked back inside where some cries were echoing towards the door. 

"Here we go," Louis murmured so only Harry could hear, and they both stepped into the house. 

*****

"Okay, next we need to layer the cheese mixture. Chloe, is that your job?" Harry turned towards the red headed 7 year old who had gone ruddy with the excitement of being able to help make dinner. 

She quickly nodded her head, but bit her lip. He could tell she was nervous so he walked over to where she was standing and leaned over so it felt more like it was just the two of them and her twin cousins weren't in the room. 

"Would you like me to help you?" Harry quietly offered. Her smile lit up her face and she nudged the bowl over towards him. He took her hand which already had a hold on the spoon in his and helped guide her to spread out her assigned layer of the lasagna. 

"Look at that! Perfect! You're practically a chef already!" he praised and she blushed even more, quite pleased with herself. Harry turned towards Daisy who was holding the noodles. "Okay! Is it time for the noodles now?"

"NOOOOO!" all three girls chorused. 

"It's not?!" Harry cried, throwing his hands in the air in mock exasperation. "Well what layer is supposed to come next?"

"The meat! It's my turn, Harry!" Phoebe answered. Harry felt a warm rush grow inside of him. Phoebe had been a bit more reserved than the other kids when he first got there, but he is so pleased that within hours of being there he had won her over as well. 

Harry smacked his forehead and said, "Of course! The meat! Can't forget that! Go ahead and spread some more meat, Phoebs." 

Harry was just about to start spreading the spaghetti sauce on top of the meat (that was his assigned layer because there was no way he was letting a 7 or 9 year old pour a tomato based anything out of a glass jar, no matter how closely monitored) when a hand appeared on his hip and a voice whispered, "How is you making lasagna with kids so hot?"

Harry startled but also couldn't avoid the shiver that ran down his spine. He turned his head and found Louis with his brother Ernest on his hip. He gave him a coy smile and whispered back, "It is one of my secrets for how to woo you. I've got moves you've never seen." He then waggled his eyebrows and Louis shot out a laugh. 

At full volume he asked, "Did you just quote Julia Roberts at me?"

"What's wrong with that? My Best Friend's Wedding is obviously a modern classic! Cameron Diaz was actually trying to sing during that karaoke scene!"

"Lou? Are you and Harry going to kiss? Cause if you are, we wanna go watch Girl Meets World."

Louis' eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head and Harry was definitely blushing for about the millionth time that day. What was with these Tomlinsons and their ability to do that to him?

"No, Daisy, we are not going to kiss. Not right now, anyway," Louis laughed. "You can get back to making dinner with Harry. I've gotta get back to Doris and Betsy anyway." He leaned in to Harry and said, "I will be kissing you later," into his ear with a surety in his voice. 

"You better!" Harry called after Louis' retreating form. Louis only responded with a laugh. 

*****

"Has Betsy already been fed?"

"Yes, she ate a bit off my plate while I was feeding the older girls. Did the twins get a bath?"

"The older ones yes, the younger ones, no. Ernest still needs a bottle too, could you feed him while I change Betsy and Doris?"

"Sure. How much does he eat?"

If you had asked Harry 24 hours ago how he expected his weekend to be, this conversation would have not even entered his imagination, but it was around 9 pm on Friday and instead of getting drunk or canoodling while watching movies, Harry was dividing responsibilities for the crazy ridiculous bedtime routine that is involved for all of the kids with THE Louis Tomlinson.

Harry should probably get over that and stop occasionally referring to him by both first and last name. 

They finally had the four oldest down and were working on getting the youngest three fed and diapered so they would get to sleep too. Considering Harry's internal clock was telling him it was midnight, he thought he was actually doing pretty well overall. 

All of the girls loved eating the dinner they helped make and even Betsy ate some, which was a huge win. Doris and Ernest were still young enough that they mostly took bottles with a side of baby food so that's what they were working on finishing now. Then sleep. Apparently Chloe and Siobhan had a tendency to not sleep past 6:30 am and while Chloe can generally take okay care of herself at the age of 7, Siobhan was only 4 so that's asking a bit much for her. Sleep was definitely going to be something prized for him this weekend, but so far he was loving the reason so much that he didn’t mind that much. 

As he fed Doris, Harry allowed his mind to wander and daydream a bit. This playing house he seemed to be doing with Louis was turning out to be incredibly dangerous for him. They worked so well as a team, even jumping right in to taking care of seven kids. Harry felt like they were true partners and he was truly in his element. 

He began to imagine his life later with a family. It had always been his dream to get married and have kids. He thought his photography would work well as a side business allowing him to choose a schedule so he could stay home with the kids should his husband have a more traditional job that required 8-5 hours. Now, though, his husband took on the shape of a curvy, compact man with soft hair and a bright smile whose job was anything but traditional and sometimes could take him away from his family for months at a time. 

He considered how hard that would be, but at the same time it was obvious how dedicated Louis was to the family he has now. Harry would like to think that should the family be one that he had built himself, Louis would be just as loving and focused on them, if not more so, as he is on the family he was born to. 

Wait. There's no way Harry was just imagining himself married and building a family with Louis. That's just...ridiculous. Stupid. More than far-fetched. 

And everything he wanted. 

God, less than 24 hours here and Harry's already dreaming of his domestic life with the man. He really was in trouble. 

Having finished feeding and burping Ernest, he rejoined Louis where he had been taking care of the other two in the nursery only to find him asleep in the rocking chair holding an also sleeping Doris to his shoulder. Harry's heart filled to bursting and more scenes of his possible future with Louis flashed through his mind. 

He quickly changed Ernest's wet diaper and put him into a pair of pajamas he hoped belonged to the boy before laying him in one of the cribs. He snuck to the room he placed his bags in earlier and pulled out his camera before returning. Ernest was already asleep and none of the others had moved, so Harry set to work. 

He went around finding the perfect angles that allowed him to take advantage of the soft lighting and let  himself to play with the aperture and shutter speed in ways he didn’t usually get to. He started with Louis and his sister in the chair, playing with the perspective and mixing up whether he got close up or panned out for a wider view. He next went and played with the blankets surrounding Ernest to create a bit of a nest for the 9 month old and gave him his own baby version of a photo shoot. 

About halfway through everything he was hoping to get for Chloe, Harry heard a soft, raspy voice ask, "Should I find it creepy you seem to be taking close up photos of my sleeping cousin's feet?"

He chuckled softly and turned around, still in the squat he was crouched in to get exactly what he wanted.

"They are baby feet, Lou. Don't you know how adorable baby feet are?"

"You're a strange one, Styles. Are you done here so we can get to bed?"

"Yeah. I was just messing around anyways. Where are we sleeping?" They had been thrown right into the fray earlier, so Harry had taken their bags and dumped them in the first bedroom that didn't look currently used.

"I figured we could take the guest room...unless I'm being too presumptuous and in that case you could take the guest room and I can sleep in my mom and Dan's..." Louis got this scrunched look to his face like he was confused how being as tired as he was he somehow was still able to pull out a word like presumptuous. 

"Looks like someone was reading their dictionary today," Harry teased. "I'm fine with us sharing the guest room if you don't think it would bother the kids."

Louis hummed in response and finally placed Doris in the crib with Ernest. They both walked out of the room and quietly closed the door. The room Harry had randomly dropped his things in happened to be the guest room. He was grateful since he was definitely feeling his exhaustion now. 

He quickly stripped down to his boxers and climbed in on the left side. Louis did the same but on the right then slid over and curled up around Harry's back. Harry hummed in contentment and scooted back more firmly into his arms before quickly dropping off to sleep. 

*****

"Are you guys naked?" a young voice trilled from the doorway to the room. It had to be entirely too early, Harry felt like he hadn't moved since they laid down and it couldn't be daylight yet. He began to stir as Louis easily explained that no, they were not naked, yes they will be right down to help with breakfast, and no, for the love of all that is holy, do not go into the nursery and wake up the babies. 

Harry squinted one eye open and found it was in fact light out already. He stretched, popping his back, and grabbed his phone to check the time. Louis was already in the bathroom going through his routine. He apparently woke up easier than Harry did, even if he was used to waking up ridiculously early for the bakery. The kids had apparently been kind and let them sleep in compared to their usual because it was 7:15, about an hour later than he had been told to expect. 

His mind then strayed to the babies who had been waking up numerous times a night lately and he hadn't heard a thing. What if they needed them and he and Louis had just slept through it? 

Without bothering to even put on a pair of sweatpants Harry rushed down the hall and eased the door open to find three happily slumbering little ones. He breathed a sigh of relief and gently closed the door behind him. He tip toed over to Betsy who was laying on her back with her arms stretched out to her sides as she gave light snuffles. He snuck over to the crib the twins were sharing and through the night it seemed that Doris and Ernest had scooted to the center of the crib where little D, as Harry had come to call her in his head over the past 24 hours, had a strangle hold on Ernest's sleeve and he was breathing in her hair. Their position looked in no way comfortable, but they didn't seem to mind. 

Harry turned around to leave and get dressed and jumped when he saw a figure standing in the doorway. His hand flew up to his chest to keep his heart from pounding its way out of his body and he tried to calm himself with deep breaths. 

"Louis, I didn't expect you to be standing there!" he whispered forcefully. "You scared me!"

He let out a soft chuckle. "I just came in to check on the babies but surprise! You already were," he teased. "You wanna get dressed and bring the monitor downstairs? I'll make breakfast."

"Sure, be there in a few."  Louis gave him a soft smile and reached towards Harry, who allowed him to grab his arm and pull him in. Louis gave him a soft peck then led the way out of the room. 

"More of that later, I swear. Last night eluded us, but I will kiss you soundly before this day ends, Styles!"

"Promises!" Harry teased before going back to their room to get dressed. 

*****

"God, I've never been so exhausted in my entire life. How does my mom do it?" Louis fell down face first onto the bed where Harry was working on Louis' laptop. He had taken some pictures of the girls (and Ernest) that morning while they were playing in the sprinkler and kiddie pool they had set up that Harry was hoping could work for an upcoming photography assignment he had just been given. Louis had lent him his laptop so he could see how the pictures turned out and consequently hadn't returned to help with the babies' bedtime. 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to get so distracted. I had more photos I hadn't looked at than I remembered." 

Louis rolled his head to the side to peer at Harry. "Oh? Can I see? I've not seen any of your work yet."

Harry bit his lip nervously but shrugged his shoulders. His last couple of assignments had been film based so he hadn't connected his digital to a computer even just for backup in longer than he was comfortable. He hadn't even gotten to the photos he had taken the past few days yet, he was still looking at some shots he had taken on a walk around historical Savannah last week when one of his classes cancelled. Louis repositioned himself so he was mirroring Harry's position of laying on his belly in front of the laptop. 

Harry continued to scan through his shots when suddenly he came up on the photos he had taken of Louis while he was asleep on Harry's couch that first night. Louis' hand grabbed his arm before he could continue scrolling through the pictures. Harry could feel his cheeks burning and he chewed on the inside of his cheek as he refused to look up from the quilt beneath him. 

"Harry," Louis started, but he seemed unsure of what to say because he didn't continue. Harry finally took a chance and glanced up through his eyelashes at the man laying beside him. Louis was still staring at the computer with a look of surprise and awe on his face, definitely not the anger Harry was expecting. "This...are there more?" 

He turned to look at Harry now, so he just nodded. Harry clicked to the next photo and Louis' breath caught. It was a shot that was a close up of his hand hanging off the couch. Louis took charge at that point and clicked to the next. And the next. And the next. 

He finally paused on one that was, in Harry's opinion, a perfect close up of Louis' face. It accentuated his cheekbones with the soft shadows created by the moonlight and brought about an almost glowing accent for his dark eyelashes, fanning his skin. 

Louis cleared his throat and softly said, "These are incredible." He turned to look at Harry and rasped, "I feel beautiful looking at me in these pictures. You're incredible."

Harry's brows furrowed. "You aren't mad?"

Louis' eyes grew in size and he firmly shook his head. "How can I be mad when you take pictures as amazing as these?"

"I was basically creeping on you while you were sleeping. I could take these pictures and sell them or something."

"Is that your plan? Take some pictures of me napping on your couch, fully clothed and in no way in a compromising situation may I add, and try to sell them?" Louis' delicate eyebrows were raised and he seemed amused at where Harry had taken the conversation. 

"No. I don't know what I planned to do with them, but you looked too perfect just laying there to not document."

Louis took a steadying breath before visibly steeling himself. Why he felt nervous, Harry had no idea. In his mind, Louis had no reason to be. Finally he asked, "Is that how you see me? As I am in these photos?"

Confused at this line of questioning, Harry just said the first thought that came to mind, which was, "How else would I see you?"

Louis seemed pleased with his answer because he nodded with a small smile then turned back to the computer. He scans through the last few pictures of himself on Harry's couch before Harry finally speaks out to stop him. 

"Uhh, you should probably know I've taken some more pictures of you."

Louis turned to Harry with his brows arched. "You just can't stop, can you?" He chuckled. "Why don't I remember this casual photo shoot either?"

Harry started nervously playing with his hair until Louis reached out and gently removed his hand from his head. Louis didn't let go of his hand, but instead intertwined his fingers with Harry's. Harry looked back up at Louis' bright blue eyes and sighed. 

"You might have been sleeping again."

Louis' smile grew even larger. "Sometime I'm going to get you to take pictures of me while I'm awake," he teased. 

"Shut up and let me know what you think."

The pictures began to scroll again but they slowed once Louis hit the ones of him holding Doris. Harry turned to see what his reaction was to find that Louis had covered his mouth with his left hand and it looked like tears were welling up getting ready to spill down his cheeks. 

"I know my reaction seems extreme, but I don't get to see them often," he tried to explain as his eyes focused on the computer. "It's even more rare to get pictures with the kids. These are beautiful, Haz." 

Louis took a few stuttering breaths and continued, trying to get his emotions under control. He couldn't hide his smile behind his hand as he gazed at the sleeping Ernest crossing the screen and again as he saw the close up of Betsy's feet he had woken up to witness. 

They finally came to the pool and sprinkler pictures from that morning and they immediately began to giggle. Harry had captured the perfect shot of Daisy absolutely dousing Phoebe with the hose and the look of anger and dismay on Phoebe's face was priceless. 

They also found an adorable shot of Ernest trying to feed Betsy some of the pool water from one of the toys and, perhaps Harry's favorite, a picture of Louis with his entire face scrunched up in the biggest smile he's ever seen holding Siobhan in his arms as the other three older girls were jumping on his back in a big, wet dog-pile. 

"These are going to be perfect for my project, if your mom and aunt don't mind the kids being used. I'll be sure not to use any with you in the shot." Harry was so happy how they had turned out, completely sharp with bold colors and focused on the subject of every frame. 

He began to imagine how he was going to present it, the order of them, if any were going to require editing, etc. when he was brought back to the present by Louis closing the laptop and setting it onto the nightstand. The man then rolled Harry onto his back before straddling his hips and placing his hands by Harry's head. 

"I just keep thinking there's nothing you can do to make me like you more, and then inevitably something happens," he whispered from his position hovering above Harry. Louis then leaned in and captured Harry's lower lip between his teeth for a soft nip. 

Kisses then rained down on Harry's jaw, until Louis found the sensitive skin just below Harry's ear. He began to focus on that area, sucking and nipping and licking as Harry began to stroke Louis' sides. 

He loved the way his hands felt like they could wrap around his curves and with the pace of this being so much more relaxed than their previous trysts, Harry was determined to enjoy and worship every inch of Louis' body. He hiked up the flimsy band shirt Louis had on to his armpits so he could get his hands on his golden skin. 

Louis sat up and pulled his shirt the rest of the way off before pulling at the hem of Harry's. He lifted his torso off the bed and the shirt was quickly removed before Louis pushed on his shoulders so he could get to work on Harry's collarbones. Harry continued his wandering path with his hands as his breathing got more labored. 

He had just gotten his hands down Louis' boxer briefs, grabbing onto Louis' perfect ass and having to suppress a groan due to the delicious pressure Louis had added when a small, sleepy voice called out, "I had a nightmare, can I sleep with you?" 

Both of them stilled and Louis dropped his forehead to Harry's shoulder letting out a small whine. He took a deep breath before rolling off of Harry and sitting up to face the door. 

"Of course you can, Phoebs. Just go back to the hall so we can finish getting in pajamas then you can come and snuggle into the bed with us, okay?"

Phoebe nodded and yawned, returning to the hall. As soon as the door closed Louis groaned then heaved himself off the bed. Gesturing towards his still quite interested cock he complained, "This is absolutely NOT how I imagined the weekend going."

Adjusting himself so his own semi was a bit more concealed, Harry chuckled and stood up. 

"What? Abstinent?"

"Exactly!" After Louis had donned an old pair of sweatpants, Louis slid up behind Harry and wrapped his arms around him. "I'm supposed to be doing naughty, naughty things to you right now."

Harry rolled his eyes despite knowing Louis couldn't see him and continued getting into his own pajamas. 

"This is kinda nice too, though. In its own way," he said gently while he put his day clothes back into his bag. It was only then he realized how it could sound like he was saying he was enjoying playing house with Louis, which he kind of was...but considering they haven't even broached the topic of possibly taking their relationship past friends with benefits...well. "I mean, I just..."

"It's okay, Curly. It has been nice. It just would be nicer if I wasn't constantly blue balling it." 

Harry smiled to himself and climbed back into bed since Louis had already gone to let his sister back in. She followed Louis into the room then climbed up to the very middle of the bed where she could cuddle both Harry and Louis. Harry was so pleased and had such warmth flowing through him at the idea that this young girl sought comfort from him just as much as from her brother. 

Louis seemed to be on a similar wavelength since he was beaming at him as soon as Phoebe laid her head on Harry's shoulder. Harry reached out to Louis so he would join in and he ended up cuddling up behind Phoebe and draping his arm over her so his hand could still lay on Harry's stomach. Harry had one hand combing through her hair and the other he attached to Louis'. 

The two Tomlinsons dropped off to sleep quickly but Harry couldn't get his mind to shut off again. He couldn't remember a time he had been so completely content and happy, but he knew this wouldn't and couldn't last. Louis had to go back to being the celebrity Louis Tomlinson with his blessed but busy life and Harry would go back to being the normal, run of the mill college student he was before graduating and becoming the jobless art student he had signed up to be. 

Now that he knew what it was like to be with Louis so much and enjoy domestic life with him though, how was Harry supposed to go back to being happy working in the bakery and going to school? Of course that would only last through the end of May when he would graduate, but he had been putting in applications for everything related to the field of photography he was interested, and even some that he wasn't, for a month now in preparation and he had yet to hear back from anyone. He had hoped to move closer to Northern Virginia so he could be closer to his mom but the market was so over saturated in that area that he really didn't hold out much hope and had begun to branch out to other places. 

His future was so up in the air he just wasn't sure what to do with himself and now adding Louis and their...whatever this is...to the mix was just making it all seem impossible. 

But then Harry's mind fell to the way that Louis had so lovingly taken care of Daisy when she had fallen and scraped her knee that afternoon while riding her bike in front of the house. The glow that seemed to completely emanate from him as he cooed and played with the babies. The soft look that came over his face when he looked at Harry. 

It was with that on his mind that Harry finally fell asleep. 

*****

_Hey Sunshine, I know you're on the plane right now but I wanted to make sure you got back safely. Let me know once you get this. xxx_

Harry smiled to himself as he was waiting for Perrie to pull up in the pick-up lane at the airport in Savannah. It had been such a great weekend and after all the noise and activity of the Tomlinson household, not to mention Louis himself, Harry was ready for a rest once he had turned in his paper that was due in just over an hour.  
  
_I've arrived safe and sound back in Savannah. Did the kids treat you alright after I left?_  
  
Harry had honestly been a bit worried as to how Louis would handle the kids on his own until Dan arrived later that night but Louis had been confident. His phone buzzed again but before he could check it Perrie pulled up with the windows down.  
  
"Ready to rejoin the lives of the peasants?" she called out through the window.  
  
Harry laughed and tossed his things in the back seat. "Of course, this weekend was more like an alternate reality than anything." He settled himself into the passenger seat, offered up Pez a kiss to her cheek, and unlocked his phone.  
  
_Of course, they practically worship me. Dan also surprised us all by bringing mom with him when he got back. Apparently she was able to be discharged as he got back to the city._  
  
_Haha! Was the house completely demolished by the time she got back? I hope she is doing okay._  
  
_It was not completely demolished...only partially torn apart.  
And she is doing as well as she can be after surgery._  
  
"Must be Louis, you're smiling like a loon," Perrie commented as she eased off of the highway. "So. Are you glad you took my advice and got together with him? Did you get some?"  
  
"Perrie Edwards! How very dare you! I am glad I took your advice, it was great to be able to help with his siblings and cousins even if that wasn't the original plan." Harry sighed dramatically and pretended to swoon against the car door. "It was like something out of my dreams, Pezza! Like we were married and raising this crazy hectic wonderful family in a gorgeous house in sunny California and it was utter perfection!"  
  
Perrie cackled her loud and infectious laugh before giving a soft snort. "Oh, H. I love you. Such a great housewife you will make someday! But you didn't answer. Did you get any?"  
  
Harry groaned. "Nooooo! I almost did, several times in fact, but we were constantly being interrupted! His sisters are excellent cockblocks, it turns out."  
  
"Awww, poor Hazza," she teased as she patted his cheek. Harry veered out of her reach and hit his head against the side of the roof.  
  
"Owww," he whined and rubbed at his head. "I do deserve your pity. I'm exhausted, definitely not well sexed, and now have to go turn in my paper."  
  
"Yes. My poor boy. Maybe you could convince him to try Skype sex." She flashed a huge smile and wagged her eyebrows.  
  
Harry's phone alerted him to a text from Louis and Harry decided that was much better than going into details with Perrie about that.  
  
_So what are you up to?  
  
Currently avoiding an in depth conversation with Perrie about Skype sex. Don't ask.  
  
Why not? Sounds like a great topic of conversation, though I am a bit jealous of Perrie in this instance._  
  
Harry rolled his eyes.  
  
_No need to be, promise. What are you doing?  
_  
Perrie parked the car and Harry was jolted out of his texting world with Louis. He leaned and gave her a big hug before grabbing his bags and heading into his apartment. Liam was working tonight so Harry just had to go and make sure his essay was perfect then submit it.  
  
He checked his phone on his way to his room and found a response.  
  
_Well now I'm thinking about Skype sex...but I actually have to fly back to Atlanta tonight so I can finish some things there before my next project._  
  
He huffed a laugh and tossed his things down when he realized there was a shirt on his bed that didn't belong to him. Upon closer inspection he realized it was the Vans t shirt Louis had been wearing when he first came to Harry's. He held it up and smelled it.  
  
Yep. Still held the traces of Tom Ford.  
  
He stripped off his shirt and pulled the baseball tee over his head. It was a bit tight over his shoulders and chest but otherwise seemed to fit him pretty well. He ran into the bathroom and took a selfie in the mirror before sending it to Louis.  
  
_I think I just found my new favorite shirt!_  
  
He went ahead and posted a tweet with the same picture and caption but of course didn't tag Louis. No need to try to bring attention to himself in that way. He just thought he looked good in Louis' shirt.  
  
_I was looking for that today! I've gotta admit you do look good in my clothes.  
  
You're not getting this back. It's mine now.  
  
Whatever you say, Curly.  
_  
*****  
  
_I think I can say with all seriousness that I want kids.  
  
Well...that's good?  
  
No. Really, Lou. I loved feeling like I was going to rip my hair out one minute and melt into a puddle of cuddles and love the next and all of that that we went through last week. I miss the craziness.  
  
Don't you have enough on your plate with your last college finals and papers and projects? You want to add kids on top of that?  
  
Well I'm almost done with that stuff. But, yeah. I wanna get married and have a house that is always noisy with the kids playing and laughing and running.  
  
Me too, Haz. Sounds perfect.  
_  
*****  
  
_Would your mom be okay with me using the baby twins pictures as part of my portfolio? I'm trying to branch into other styles for my job hunt since I haven't had much luck yet.  
  
Course! But you owe me.  
  
I owe you? For what?  
  
Talking to my mom for you.  
  
Really. And what do I owe you?  
  
Well, I was thinking we could Skype again tonight and then you could maybe show me that new tattoo again...And then maybe I could show you mine.  
  
What time do you suggest? Liam is out tonight so I can be a bit more...loud...than I could last time.  
  
Oh god. As soon as you're ready I am too, babe.  
_  
*****

 _Do you think Liam would be most uncomfortable with a purple glittery butt plug or a large rather realistic dildo?  
  
Rather straight laced that one, isn't he?  
  
Not really. Just comes off that way. I guarantee he will use what I give him, even if they are gag graduation gifts.  
  
Then why choose only one?  
  
I like the way you think.  
_  
*****  
  
"Harry? What are you doing?"  
  
Harry looked up from where he was fumbling with his phone and looked at Perrie. "My phone has been ringing off the hook all day with numbers I don't recognize and now Louis is calling. I'm sorry, do you mind if I take this?"  
  
She rolled her eyes and waved him off as she continued pulling her hair color out of the box in Harry's kitchen. He had promised her that as soon as he was off work he would help her make her hair a pale shade of pink for graduation that weekend but he had been paying more attention to his strangely noisy phone than he had to his friend.  
  
"Hey, Lou. What's going on? I wasn't expecting to hear from you until later today."  
  
"Yeah, well..." Harry could hear Louis' nervousness in his voice. "You haven't happened to get online today, have you?"  
  
Harry held his phone to his ear with his shoulder as he snatched up his laptop from his desk and returned to Perrie in the kitchen.  
  
"No, I just got back from work. Why? What should I be looking for?"  
  
He pulled up his Google homepage and awaited instruction.  
  
"Well you can start by searching my name and seeing what pops up under news."  
  
"Okayyyy..." Harry typed in Louis' name and immediately there were thousands of results, the most recent articles all carrying a similar theme. "Oh shit! You were hacked?"  
  
At that Perrie dropped her coloring supplies and came to Harry's side of the table to peer over his shoulder.  
  
"Yeah, along with hundreds of others. They think it's the same people who did the Sony hack. But, uh, here's the thing..." Louis drifted off and started addressing someone else who seemed to be in the room with him so Harry turned to Perrie whose blue eyes were large and round.  
  
"Harry, this is really recent," she whispered. "D'ya think he's calling because this somehow has something to do with you?"  
  
Before Harry could respond Louis' voice became clear again. "Sorry about that. Niall had some more info for me. Anyway, the thing is, what they got were my emails. Which may have had some information pertaining to you in them."  
  
The line remained silent as Harry tried to figure out what this meant.  
  
"While normally I'd be flattered you thought highly enough of me to warrant that, I'm mostly concerned now as to what that information was?"  
  
"Well it's mainly copies of the photos you took while we watched the kids over Easter. I shared them with my family but that got questions about who took them and especially since there's that one photo of you and I in the kitchen that Daisy took..."  
  
"Wait, you kept those and shared them?" Harry interrupted. "Even the kitchen one?" That photo might now be Harry's desktop on his laptop, but Louis had no way to know that. Perrie eyed him curiously and he waved her off for the time being.  
  
The girls had all been watching a movie in the den while the three youngest napped before dinner. Harry had been finishing up the Easter feast when Louis wandered in and distracted him. Harry was standing in front of the stove wearing their mom's frilly apron with spatula still in hand when Louis had wrapped his arms around Harry's neck and pulled him into a kiss. Right as Harry had begun to reciprocate they heard giggles from the door and when they turned around they saw Daisy holding Harry's camera. It was a bit blurry due to the shakiness of the 9 year old's arms, but it was still one of Harry's favorites from the entire weekend.  
  
"Well, yeah. I did. They're great photos, Haz," Louis sighed. "See, but I might have given your full name and where you attend school because my mom was wanting more info about the guy her daughters wouldn't stop talking about."  
  
"They can't? Aww, I honestly miss them. I should see if I can save up some money and make a reason to come visit them again because I did promise Phoebe that I would teach her how to French braid-"  
  
"Harold."  
  
Harry startled at Louis' forceful but laughing tone. "Yeah?"  
  
Harry put the phone on speaker and set it on the table so Perrie could hear right as Louis said sounding serious again, "I need you to focus here." Perrie arched her brow but continued clicking around on the articles Google had returned with. "I told you all this because your information has now become public. As has your, uh, relationship with me."  
  
Harry froze. "I...oh." His mind whirled. What did this mean? People now knew that he and Louis were close, his name, and where he was going to school. That is practically enough to get his entire history and all of his information! No wonder his phone had been going nonstop. But what does this mean for everything else? He isn't famous. He is just friends...or maybe more since they still haven't clarified anything even after a month...with a famous person. A really ridiculously famous person. Oh God. Could he end up in tabloids or articles online? He really didn't want that. Like at all.  
  
"Yeah. So far we have been able to keep you out of reports, but I can't say how long we are going to be able to do that. Especially since they also have their hands on that kitchen photo."  
  
"What kitchen photo?" Perrie asked.  
  
"Who's that?" Louis questioned. Harry sent a glare at her and she sent an innocent smile back.  
  
"It's Perrie. I've told you about her, the crazy blonde girl in my history class?" Harry tried to explain.  
  
"You did?" Perrie squealed. "You talked about me to Louis Tomlinson???" She launched herself at Harry, who only just barely kept himself upright.  
  
Laughter came through the phone speaker as Louis continued. "That he did. And the picture shows us...uh...how much does she know, Hazza?"  
  
"Everything, basically."  
  
"Everything?" Harry could hear the saucy smirk even on the other side of the country.  
  
"God, I said basically," he defended. "It's not like I gave details!"  
  
"Though you can be sure I asked for them. Much to my disappointment he refused," Perrie joined in, apparently excited at being included in this conversation.  
  
"Oh sit down and I will get started on your hair while we talk with Lou. Anyway, Louis' sister caught us kissing in the kitchen and got a picture of it."  
  
"And that is now also public, or will be very soon," Louis added. "Oh, hold on a sec."  
  
“You can minimize the browser and see the picture if you’d like, but he will not know it is my wallpaper, okay?” Harry basically demanded as he mixed the color with the conditioner and toner they were going to attempt to use to get the desired soft pink as Perrie draped a towel around her shoulders.  He was glad he was behind her right now, because he could feel himself flushing in embarrassment.  
  
"So is that why you've been messing with your phone so much? Have people already found you?" Perrie asked.  
  
Harry parted her hair and began to apply the color to her roots. "I guess. I kept getting all these calls from numbers I didn't know so I didn't answer but no one has left messages so I don't know for sure yet."  
  
"Son of a bitch, people have been calling you already?" Louis was starting to sound tired, and it was only around noon in California. "Ni, they've already been calling him. Curly, I'm putting you on speaker."  
  
"Okay, H, here's what we need you to do. Don't answer any calls from numbers you don't know. Movies and things always act like paparazzi will camp outside your house when things like this break, but that isn't going to happen unless someone calls them in and we aren't going to do that to you. There might be a few random ones that come find you, but it shouldn't be too bad. There will mainly be people calling trying to get a statement.  
  
"What you will also find is mentions in articles online and maybe some pictures, okay? If there's anything you don't want them finding you better have deleted it yesterday and you should recheck your privacy settings for all social media, especially Twitter, Facebook, snapchat, and so on. This should blow over fairly soon, but you let me know if you have any questions or if anyone is being particularly persistent. Alright?"  
  
"Holy shit, that's a lot. Can you repeat that slower?" Just listening to Niall's speech had made Harry about 17 times more nervous than he had been previously.  
  
“I think you need to calm it down a bit for him, Ni.  But there’s actually something rather important we still need to discuss, babe.”  
  
“Uh oh, this doesn’t sound very good,” Harry teased as he continued to make sure all of Perrie’s roots were well saturated with the hair color so he could turn attention to the rest of her hair.  “It can’t possibly be any crazier than people having my contact info and access to me and such.”  
  
“We need to talk about what we are, uh, ya know, to each other,” Louis hedged.  “I don’t want to do my official statement and address the topic of you without knowing exactly where we stand and somehow, this is something we haven’t discussed yet.”  
  
Harry almost dropped the color brush he was applying the paste with.  
  
“Well, I guess, maybe first of all I should take you off speakerphone,” Harry slowly said as he set down the coloring tools and removed his gloves.  “I’ll be back in just a few minutes, Pez.”  
  
She sent him a knowing wink and occupied herself with her own phone as Harry went back to his room for a bit more privacy.  
  
“So, uh, I guess first question is what would you like our relationship to be?”  Harry had never needed to be this direct about whether he was dating someone or not.  It had always been so obvious whether they were or weren’t, but then again this was anything but a typical relationship.  
  
He could hear Louis breathing on the other end of the line before chancing to speak.  “I would really like to be able to say you’re my boyfriend, if you are okay with that.”  
  
The wind was knocked out of Harry’s lungs.  “Really?”  
  
“Yeah,” Louis laughed a bit.  “I spend more time on the phone with you than working on what I’m filming or making sure I’m where I should be. I’ve wanted to ask since Easter, but was too nervous.”  
  
Harry’s thoughts were going about a mile a minute.  What would this entail?  Would he have to be in the public eye? Would he still be able to have a normal job?  How well known would he get?  Harry really had no desire to really be famous, even by association.  He had seen enough articles about those who are dating or break up with celebrities and how they constantly get followed and attacked by not only media but fans.  He wasn’t sure he was ready for that.  
  
Louis had a massive following, especially on Twitter, and if even a small portion of that started to come after Harry, he wasn’t sure how he would handle it. He had always been a rather laid back but fairly sensitive guy and he sees the kinds of things people say online with that barrier of what feels like anonymity.  Fear of those kinds of comments coming against him welled up within him causing him to have to shut his eyes and shake his head. Sure, he had thought about this possibility before, but it had never been a real option like it was now.  
  
“I dunno about that, Lou,” he finally squeaked out.  
  
Harry heard Louis’ breath catch.  “Right, sorry, it’s still really early, right? I mean we haven’t really discussed our relationship at all and here I am just assuming you’re as into the idea as I am...”  
  
“No, Lou, you’ve got it all wrong.  I’m very much interested, I just don’t know about the surrounding circumstances and the attention I would get from it.”  He took a deep breath and tried to continue to explain so Louis would know that Harry truly didn’t mean anything against him in any way. “I don’t want attention like that; I honestly don’t think I could handle it as well as you do.  I just want to be a normal college graduate whose biggest worry is finding a job to pay his bills before he has to move back in with his parents.”  
  
“Fair enough,” Louis whispered weakly.  “Should we just say that we are close friends, then?  Is that okay?”  
  
“Of course.  I really do love the relationship I have with you.  I just don't think I can handle everything that comes with something more with someone…” Harry stopped himself before he could finish the sentence, but Louis did it for him.  
  
“With someone like me.”  
  
Letting out a shaky breath, Harry couldn’t help but agree.  “I guess, yeah.”  
  
“That’s fine.  That’s fair.  Okay, well I should go because there’s really a lot I need to do about this, but I had to talk to you about it since you were involved.  Uh, have a great rest of the day hanging out or whatever with Perrie, I’m sure I’ll talk to you later.  Bye, Harry,” Louis said, all in a rush with his words slurring together a bit.  
  
“Lou, wait…” Harry tried to interrupt and stop him, but the line was already dead.  He pulled the phone away and just stared at it. What did he just do?  
  
*****  
  
Harry checked his phone for what had to be the fifth time in a minute, but there wasn't a notification from Louis. Still. It was now Friday and originally they had planned to Skype each other about 15 minutes ago but Louis was still showing as offline.  
  
Harry should have expected this, Louis hadn't responded more than twice to his numerous texts since that mistake of a phone call on Tuesday. Since then he had taken as many of the precautions he could remember that Niall has suggested and it had helped, but even so his Twitter had gotten completely bombarded and he had forgotten about the picture of him wearing Louis' shirt. Those fangirls were better than the freaking FBI because they had figured it out in no time with comparative pictures and everything. It was kinda impressive, actually.  
  
He had also been tempted to change his phone number due to all the calls he had been getting from unknown numbers, but he couldn't bring himself to do that when Louis wasn't really answering him. The logic didn't totally match up on that, he could easily text Louis his new number so he could still reach him, but all the same.  
  
Those tweets were honestly nonstop though. Because Louis had only had one serious boyfriend since he had come out and that was awhile ago, that picture of them kissing had apparently gotten all of his fans excited. Or hating Harry, but he wanted to focus on the positive. Some of the more dedicated fans had even come up with a ship name for them: Larry Stylinson. It was quite clever and Harry thought it sounded pretty good, but it didn't change that with that one horrible phone call on Tuesday he had messed up everything.  
  
He still wasn't sure that he wanted to take back everything he had said or that he felt any different...he was still scared, but really what he had been experiencing so far wasn't nearly what he had expected. The fans were actually really supportive and quite kind. There were the few who would attack him for no reason and threw around homophobic slurs, but overall they were wonderful so far.  
  
One thing he had to consider though was that they had announced what Louis had said they would, that Harry was a "only a close friend," and that's what the fans were going off of.  How different would it all be if they had decided to give it a try and the public knew they were dating?  
  
It would seem not all of them believed the friends narrative, though. At least not according to some of the links that Harry had to stop himself from clicking on now, because these girls were fast and were already writing fanfiction about them. Most were fun and creative but some had some very detailed ideas about how active and kinky their basically non existent sex lives with each other were and...well...considering he hadn't gotten to have uninterrupted sex other than through Skype with Louis since that first night they met it just seemed cruel to read those, no matter how well done.  
  
And also, Harry did not have a daddy kink no matter how determined some of them were that he did. Well. Not much. He didn't think. God, now they had him questioning himself and he didn’t even have anyone to experiment with.  
  
Anyway, he stopped reading what they sent because it was messing with his head, especially when Louis was essentially ignoring him through all of this. And let's be honest, after being used to constant communication with Louis for two months, going to absolutely nothing was killing him.  
  
He got desperate enough yesterday that Harry texted Niall to make sure Louis was okay. Niall basically laughed at him and said of course, other than being mopey and annoyed. And just to be clear, Niall had spelled out the annoyance was due to the hackers and the moping was due to Harry. Which, thanks for that, Niall.  It was horribly guilt inducing, but how was he supposed to help when Louis wouldn't even talk to him? It was all very frustrating.  
  
So Harry had been really looking forward to today's Skype session with Louis so they could talk it all out. But, as he had thought earlier, he really should have seen this coming.  
  
He groaned and hit his forehead to his desk right as Liam came walking into his room.  
  
"Uh oh, Louis troubles?"  
  
Harry groaned before he sat up and straightened out his shirt. "More like _Harry's an idiot_ troubles."  
  
Liam made a sound that was suspiciously similar to a coo before he came over and began to pet Harry's hair in a way he knew Harry loved.  
  
"You aren't an idiot! Now what's the problem."  
  
"No, really Liam, I fucked this one up so bad," Harry whined. "I told Louis on Tuesday I wasn't ready to date him and now he's ignoring me."  
  
Liam's puppy dog eyes grew. "There has to be more to this story. What exactly did you say?"  
  
Harry wracked his brain. "Well...it might have come out a little wrong..."  
  
"So tell me what you were trying to say first," Liam prompted as he led Harry to his bed so they could cuddle better. Harry really did have the best roommate and best friend. He was going to miss Liam more than probably anything when he moved away after graduation.  
  
"I was trying to say that I wasn't prepared to handle all of the scrutiny that comes with being a somewhat public figure. And I'm not, but I'm having to deal with it without the benefit of Louis and all that entails! It's so frustrating!" Harry realized his voice had risen as he continued and he was now sounding rather frazzled. He tried to calm himself down before he apologized with a quick, "Sorry."  
  
"Mmm," Liam hummed. "And how did it come out instead?"  
  
"Ahh, I'm such an idiot, Liam! It might have come out more like I wasn't ready for everything that came with dating someone like Louis.  And now that I think about it some more, it might have sounded like I would never be ready. Which is only kinda what I meant, but the way I said it sounded so much more harsh and I didn't mean it like that!"  
  
"Haz," Liam gently said while raising his head so he could look him in the eyes. "You probably made him feel like he isn't worth it. Have you explained what you really were trying to say?"  
  
"I tried!" Harry huffed as he threw his arms in the air, "But he wouldn't let me talk! He hung up so fast after that, Li. And he has barely responded to anything I've sent him and before all that happened we were supposed to be having a Skype chat like three hours ago or maybe like 30 minutes, but he of course never showed up!" He stood up and began pulling at his hair. "I just don't know what to do. Tell me what to do, Leemo!"  
  
“So you’ve tried texting him?”  
  
“Yes,” Harry confirmed.  
  
“And calling him?”  
  
“Yep,” he said, popping the p at the end.  
  
“And now he didn’t show up for Skype?”  
  
“You got it.”  
  
“Well if he just lived around here I would say stop by his place and make him listen, but living across the country and all puts a bit of a damper on that,” Liam says, with a small smile towards Harry.  “I’m not sure what more to tell you, other than wait it out a bit longer.”  
  
Harry sighed, perhaps with a bit more drama and flair than he normally would have, but he was trying not to freak out completely so he figured it was okay to be over the top just this once.  
  
“Thanks for trying anyway.”  
  
Liam stood from Harry’s bed and pulled his gross server’s uniform away from his chest.  “Of course.  Now, I’m going to change out of this and make sure I no longer smell like grease, then we are going to go out and celebrate!  This is our last weekend together of our college careers and we aren’t going to let some actor get you down!” he pulled Harry into a hug.  “Sound like a plan?”  
  
Harry smiled.  Liam knew just how to cheer him up.  
  
“Yeah, it’s a plan.”  
  
*****  
  
The next morning Harry woke up with a terrible hangover and numerous texts from Niall.  Afraid of what he might have drunk texted, he figured he should put it off a bit longer in favor of a good piss, about 2 gallons of water, and maybe an entire container of Aleve.  
  
Once he had gotten that all sorted out, he crashed down into bed and winced at the bright light coming from his phone.  He scrolled back to last night but found the last time he had actually talked to Niall was Thursday, so now he really didn’t know what the messages were about.  
  
Upon closer inspection, it appeared they had all been sent over the course of four or five hours, the last of which was sent just 15 minutes ago.  Niall was really awake early, then.  
  
_You thought going out and drinking and dancing was a good idea when you’re hot in the public eye right now?  
What were you thinking, dude?  
Oh my god, I don’t know who these girls were, but they got SO MANY photos of you and this really isn’t my job to clean up a mess like this.  
You do realize what I’m doing for you, right?  
Why are you doing this to me?  I thought we were friends.  
Whatever you do, don’t get on Twitter.  There are all kinds of rumors going around there right now and apparently even a trending topic despite the fact we blatantly said you two were just friends all because you WORE LOUIS' FUCKING SHIRT on top of everything else you’ve done._  
  
Harry locked his phone, not feeling like dealing with any of this right now.  This right here is why he had said he wasn’t ready to date Louis!  He just wanted to be able to live his life and not worry about who was taking pictures of him while he was out and about, much less drinking and dancing and trying to forget this whole mess while maybe possibly wearing a shirt that belongs to the person he was supposedly trying to forget.  
  
God, his head really hurt.  Why did he let Liam convince him to have those last couple of Tequila shots? He swore to himself he wasn’t going to mix his liquor last night but Liam had of course worn him down.  Harry was about to fall asleep again when his phone vibrated right by his head.  He took a peek at it and saw it was Niall again.  
  
_Please at least let me know that you’re okay.  Louis is having a bit of a freak out over all of this and has barely slept._  
  
Harry scoffed at that but finally typed out a response.  
  
_Yeah, I’m sure he’s really worried about me considering he’s been ignoring me all week._  
  
He rolled his eyes at himself before deleting it and just sending a short message.  
  
_I’m fine.  Got a killer hangover, talk more later.  
  
I’m sure.  According to the pictures you drank your weight in vodka._  
  
Harry tossed his phone down one more time and rolled back over to get some more sleep.  
  
*****  
  
Larry Stylinson trended for 48 hours after the bar stunt which really got his Twitter mentions going crazy. Niall was great through the entire thing, but Louis was still practicing radio silence. Harry had even found some photographers lurking around his apartment, but as to whether anything ever happened with those photos or not, he never learned.  
  
Harry had been forced to move back in with his mom and Robin in NoVa a week or so after that since he couldn't afford his apartment without Liam paying his half on just the salary he earned at the bakery. He didn't update his location on Twitter or Instagram and so far no one had seemed to find him again and in a place like the metro area of Washington, D.C. he wasn't easily recognizable.  
  
He was currently waiting tables at Old Brogue Irish pub in Great Falls and doing some small photography sessions for families in the area that his mom and Robin were kind enough to do some advertising on his behalf for in order to earn his keep. It kept him busy, but never fully distracted him from how much he missed Louis.  
  
He found he actually enjoyed those family sessions more than he had expected and was even starting to get some senior portrait work from word of mouth. It was definitely nice to keep up with his photography and earn more than just the tips he got from serving.  
  
It was also doing wonders for improving his portfolio. He was continuing to apply for jobs but the only places that seemed to be hiring were the studios you found at the mall and that felt like selling out to Harry. He really hoped he could find something soon because he wasn't sure how much longer he could handle living with his parents again.  
  
*****  
  
"Harry? Your phone keeps ringing and it's the same number every time. Should I answer it for you?"  
  
Harry looked around his desk where he was currently doing some photo editing before his evening shift at the pub and realized he must have left his phone downstairs.  
  
"If it isn't a number programmed in then don't worry about it, I'll come get it in a sec!" he yelled back at his mom. He finished saving the small edits he had made on the current photo and skipped down the stairs.  
  
"It's ringing with the same number again," she said with a concerned look on her face.  
  
Harry took the phone, kissed her cheek, and looked at the screen. It was a number from California. The thought flitted through his mind that it might be in regards to Louis and that was enough to get him to answer.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Harry?" a young voice questioned coming through the line.  
  
"That's me," he said, now very confused. "Who is this?"  
  
"It's Phoebe. Tomlinson. You haven't forgotten me, have you?" Harry's eyes widened in shock. How in the world had she gotten his number? And why was she calling him in the first place?  
  
"Of course I haven't forgotten you! What's going on, Phoebs? Is everything okay? Does your mom know you're calling long distance?"  
  
His mom was still watching him very curiously so he turned away and walked into the den before he tossed himself onto the couch.  
  
"Mom said it’s okay. Harry, don't you like Louis anymore?” Apparently, Phoebe was very direct like her older brother. “He's sad since you fought. I don't like it when Louis’ sad. He always tries to make sure we’re happy and now I wanna do that for him."  
  
Harry sighed and scrubbed his face with his hand. "Phoebs, we didn't really fight, honey. I just don't think your brother wants to talk to me right now."  
  
"But if you didn't fight, why wouldn't he want to talk to you?"  
  
The plaintive sound of the young girl's voice made Harry tell the truth. "I might have accidentally said some things I didn't mean and now he doesn't want to talk to me. I've tried, babe, I really did, but I don't think I can help make him happy."  
  
"But what if you just tried again?"  
  
"Phoebe, I don't want to bother him. If he is sad, I don't think I can make him feel better, especially if he doesn't want to talk to me anymore."  
  
"Well. Even if Lou doesn't want to talk to you, I do. You need to teach me how to French braid still. You promised."  
  
Harry squeezed his eyes together. It was incredible really how much he cared for this girl considering he had only spent that one weekend with her.  
  
"I know I did. How about this. I live in Virginia right now, do you know where Virginia is?"  
  
"Yes, we learned all the states this year in school. It's across the country from us," she answered very matter of factly. Harry could imagine the attitude she was exuding through her facial expression right now. In that way she very much resembled Louis.  
  
"Yes, it's quite far from you," Harry agreed. "But next time I'm in California I will definitely come and teach you how to French braid. How does that sound?"  
  
"Okay, I guess. Can I call and talk to you sometimes?"  
  
Harry felt like his heart was going to burst with affection. "As long as your mom knows and is okay, yes you can. If I don't answer it just means I'm busy so leave me a message and I will call you back as soon as I can," he instructed.  
  
"Okay. Thanks, Harry. I love you."  
  
Harry felt his breath catch and he couldn't keep his eyes from welling up. A little wetly, Harry said, "I love you too, Phoebs. I'll talk to you later."  
  
"Bye!"  
  
Harry pulled the phone away from his ear and hit end. He stared at it for a moment before he heard his mom speak.

“And who is Phoebe?”

Harry realized his mom didn’t know about him meeting Louis, much less the friendship or whatever they had started to build or that weekend in California.

“Well, she’s the 9 year old sister of Louis Tomlinson.  One of them, anyway.”

Anne’s brown eyes grew large as she sat herself next to Harry and wrapped her arm around him.

“I think you need to fill me in on a few things.”

*****

“Sarah, I’m taking my break.  I’ll be outside,” Harry called to his manager during a slow period a couple of weeks later.  He needed to check his phone because he was waiting to hear whether he had been hired as a photographer for a rather large wedding coming up in about a month.  If he could break into that market, he was hoping he could quit serving soon because photography would be bringing in enough for him to focus solely on that.

He pulled his phone out of his bag and went out the back exit of the pub.  He sat down on the crate they had for just this purpose and scrolled through his messages.  He had a couple of random texts from Niall, something about how they’ve been stuck in an airport in Alaska for 3 hours now because of high winds, and a few missed phone calls from numbers he didn’t recognize.  One was probably the couple in Maryland he was waiting to hear from, but the other was a California number, and it was the latter who had left a message.

He hit play and soon an unknown female voice was speaking in his ear.

“Hello, this message is for Harry Styles.  This is Jenny calling with Sense Magazine here in Los Angeles.  Please give me a call at 310-555-2675 at your earliest convenience.  I will be in the office until 3 pm Eastern Time so if you call after that, please speak with my assistant James and he will be sure to connect us.”

The message ended and Harry just sat on the crate surrounded by the overpowering smell of grease and beer as he stared at his phone.  She was definitely trying to reach him, she gave his full name, but why in the world would Sense Magazine be trying to reach him?  He checked the time and found he still had 10 minutes left in his break, so he figured he might as well call and find out what exactly they wanted.

“This is Jenny,” the same woman answered.

Harry cleared his throat before he attempted to speak.  “Uh, yes.  Hi, Jenny.  This is Harry…Styles?  I’m just returning your call?”  He was so nervous and confused that it seemed his voice was unwillingly turning every statement he made into a question.  He was getting annoyed at himself and he still didn’t know why they were contacting him.

“Yes!  Hello, Harry.  How are you doing today?”

“Uh, I’m doing well, I suppose.  Thank you for asking.  How about yourself?”

“I’m doing just fine, though I would be better if we weren’t running behind for our deadline, wouldn’t I?”  Jenny let out a short laugh before she continued.  “Thank you for calling back so promptly, by the way.  Makes my life that much easier.  

“So,” she continued without much of a break, “we were thinking you could fly out to meet with us and perhaps do a bit of photography work while you were here to see how you get on with the staff we already have and that way we could figure out if you really would be a good fit.  We were initially thinking this weekend, but some things came up for Jordan, so we will have to change it to next week, hopefully Wednesday.  How does that sound?”

Harry almost tripped over himself despite the fact he was sitting down.  “I’m sorry, what?  Fly out to meet with you?  Are you offering me a job?”

“Oh!  That’s right, I didn’t give any information in my voicemail, did I?”  Jenny laughed again and Harry felt himself getting dizzy from lack of air.  Right.  Breathe in, breathe out.  He could handle this and then figure out afterwards if this was a dream or not.  “Here’s the short story.  We had this photography intern who was absolutely stunning, Harry.  I’m talking perfect.  He had been here for the past year being groomed by Geoffry, our top photographer, to take over some of his workload because he is wanting to spend more time at home with the kids, see?  Anyway, one day I come into the office and Geoffrey is in a tizzy because apparently Carter had just run off with no explanation leaving us rather stranded.  We don’t have time for another intern, we need someone who has the wherewithal to work with celebrities already but also has the skills we require to be versatile and add something of their own to the job.  Does all of this make sense so far?”

“Uh, yes, but…” Harry stuttered, but Jenny powered right on.

“So I was at an industry gathering last week and got complaining to Zayn and Niall about the whole thing, I believe you are acquainted with the two of them?”

“Yes, I am,” he breathlessly confirmed.

“Well, Niall could not stop going on about how great you are and Zayn said you were quite close with Louis.  This is a good sign, because that alone shows you won’t lose your head around some of the more well-known celebrities we work with here, so already I was intrigued.  Niall emailed me some of your work as well as a link to your photography site you had for school, and I have to say I am very impressed.”

“Thank you,” Harry croaked.

“Of course.  So, we want you before someone else snatches you up!  We need to make sure you get on with our staff and see that you can actually perform the way we would need first, naturally, but assuming that will work out we are fully prepared to offer you the job.  We were hoping for next Wednesday.  Would that work for you?”

Harry just sat there silently, wracking his brain for a reason why he shouldn’t do this.  Is this even real?  Or is someone just pulling a prank on him?  God, this would be perfect.  He could move back out on his own, though he would definitely need to start somewhere economical to say the least because he doesn’t even know what kind of salary they would be offering him, and holy shit…he would be working for an actual printed publication!  This doesn’t happen to people, especially when he didn’t even apply for the job in the first place.

Not unless you have friends like Niall Horan and apparently Zayn Malik.  Harry suddenly wondered if Louis even knew what they had done for him.  Oh Lord, what about Louis?

“Harry?  Did I lose you?” Jenny questioned.

“Oh!  No, I’m still here.  Uh, Wednesday should work just fine.”

“Great!  I just need some information from you and then we are all set.”

They finished the call with Harry giving his email as well as getting some more details about his stay in LA for a few days next week.  After hanging up, he went in to the office to speak with Sarah about getting time off and began making preparations in his head for the coming week.

*****

Harry had a bit of money saved up, but it turned out to be only about half the cost of a last minute round trip ticket to LAX this time of year and that’s not even taking into account the cost of cabs and/or the hotel.  Luckily, his mom was so ecstatic for the opportunity that she and Robin offered to help pay for the rest of his trip in good faith that he would get the job.

As if the meeting itself wasn’t nerve wracking enough, now he had that pressure on him too.  He was grateful she was so supportive, he really was, but that added weight was the last thing he needed.

Harry had also been texting Liam and Perrie for advice on what to do with the whole Louis ordeal since he was going to be in Los Angeles.  He knew Louis wasn’t out of town for work, but that didn’t mean that he was going to be home at all, so just chancing by his place wasn’t a good idea.  Especially since in order to get an address he would have to either ask Niall or Louis’ own family due to the fact that Louis hasn’t sent him a single text or anything since May and it is now late July.  He was getting conflicting advice from the two of them, too.  Liam was saying to just move on and Perrie said to make some grand romantic gesture and Harry just was so lost he didn’t know what he should do.

Harry sighed as he tossed another shirt into his bag.  Maybe he should just give up on the idea of fixing things with Louis.  Things probably wouldn’t turn out anyway, right? So this is saving Harry a lot of undue stress and hurt by avoiding the entire situation in the first place.

Just because he was missing out on Louis didn’t mean he couldn’t go and keep his promise to Phoebe, though.  The now 10 year old had continued to call pretty regularly to just chat with Harry.  He wasn’t sure why she felt the need to talk with him, but he was glad that she felt she could and as soon as he had let it slip he would be in town for a few days, she immediately had him talk with Jay so he could find a time to come over and be with the kids for a bit.

Jay had tried to get him to stay with them, but he couldn’t bring himself to take her up on her offer.  He felt like he would be too much of an intrusion, especially when he and Louis weren’t really close anymore, as much as it pained him to admit to himself.  He did promise to come for an entire evening with the family, though, and he was honestly looking forward to it.

He checked the list he had made on his phone of items to be sure he packed and it looked like he had everything pulled together that he wouldn’t be using before he left in the morning.  He double checked his cameras to make sure he had his lenses, batteries, straps, filters, and anything else he might need for his trial all packed carefully so it would be safe in his carry on.  It seemed to all be in order, so he flopped down on his bed and pulled out his laptop.  

He had just logged onto his  email when a text came through from Gemma.  

_H, how would Louis Tomlinson get ahold of a White Eskimo t shirt just like the one your band had back in high school?_

Harry was completely lost.  There were only four of those shirts ever made, and he is fairly sure his other band mates from that embarrassing time they thought themselves rock stars had already thrown theirs away or donated them to the Kidney Foundation.  Come to think of it, Harry hadn’t even seen his since…

Oh.  Since Easter weekend. Right.  

Naturally under these circumstances, Harry chose to play the dumb little brother.

_Uhhh the bigger question is why you’re even asking me this?_

Almost immediately Gemma sent over a high resolution photo of Louis walking down some palm tree lined street wearing Harry’s old band shirt.  It was large enough to hang loose on him down to his upper thigh and the neck was stretched out enough to show off not only his collarbones but a bit of his ”It is what it is” tattoo.  It got Harry completely flustered just looking at him wearing Harry’s clothes.  But why would Louis be going around wearing some ratty shirt that was over 5 years old and didn’t belong to him?

_Again I ask, how would he have gotten ahold of that shirt?_

_Well…see…I might have met him in Savannah and spent Easter weekend with him and his sisters and during that time I guess I accidentally left it at his mom’s house or something so he’s had it this whole time?_

_HARRY EDWARD STYLES YOU’VE BEEN HOLDING OUT ON ME!!!_

Harry groaned and dropped his head onto the bed.  He just figured after telling his mom that she would spill to Gemma, it was usually how these things went, but apparently his mom had chosen to keep quiet on this one.  While he normally would have appreciated this vote of confidence in his favor, this is the one time Harry would have actually appreciated her oversharing tendencies.

_I spilled the details to mom a couple weeks ago, I just assumed she had told you!_

_YOU TOLD MOM ABOUT HAVING SEX WITH A MOVIE SUPERSTAR AND DIDN’T TELL DEAR OLD GEMMA???_

_God, you’re such a drama queen.  Of course I didn’t tell mom about the sex, just everything else…_

_Ah hah! So you did get sexy times with a celebrity!  Now I really need details._

Harry rolled his eyes to himself while he tried to figure out how much to tell his sister.  He had just decided to give her the reader’s digest version when his phone rang and it looked like it was Phoebe.

”Hey, Phoebs!  Didn’t expect to get to talk to you before I got there tomorrow,” he answered cheerfully.

“Uh, it’s not Phoebe, sorry.”

Harry’s heart leapt into his throat and his eyes got a bit watery just from hearing that slightly raspy tenor for the first time in months.  He swallowed in an attempt to wet his throat before he choked out, “Louis?”

A soft chuckle came through the line.  “Yeah, it’s me.  How are you, Curly?”

Harry definitely couldn’t hold back his tears at hearing the nickname.  He was so emotional over a stupid phone call!  And from someone he had been almost ready to dismiss completely just an hour ago.  He sniffled a bit which of course was heard by Louis.

“Hazza, babe, are you crying?”  Harry, annoyingly enough, could hear the smile in Louis’ voice.

“Not on purpose!” he cried out.  “I just really missed you, Lou.”

“I know,” Louis whispered back.  “Me, too.”

“So,” Harry cleared his throat.  “I’ve been looking for a certain shirt of mine for awhile now that seems to have cropped up in some random pap photos my sister somehow found,” he teased.

“Oh, this ratty old thing? Yeah, this guy I used to be pretty close to left it at my mom’s back around Easter and I just found it last weekend.  Thought I’d try it out.  Didn’t think he would mind too much.”

“Mmm, not at all,” Harry hummed.

“So the real reason I was calling…” Louis trailed off.  Harry didn’t say anything, he knew Louis would speak when he was ready.  He had waited long enough at this point, another minute or two wasn’t going to make that big of a difference.  “I, uh, hear you’re coming to California?  And planning to spend some time with the family?”

Harry rubbed the back of his neck before he flipped so he could look at his ceiling while talking.  “Yeah, I fly out tomorrow for a job interview of sorts, and tomorrow night I’ll be with your mom and the kids.”  Harry wanted to ask if Louis was going to be there, but wasn’t sure what all this phone call was meant to fix between them.

“Phoebe is so excited.  I’ve never seen her quite like this, she really likes you, H.  My mom can’t wait to meet you either.”

“What about you?” Harry blurted out before he could even think twice.  His eyes grew as large as they could and he smacked a hand over his mouth.  He could not believe he had even asked that!  Shit shit shit shit shit…

“I, uh…” Louis chuckled.  “I can’t wait to see you either.  I’ll definitely be here.”

“Good.  It would have been weird without you.”

“Yeah.  What time do you get in?”

“Uhhh,” Harry pulled his laptop onto his chest and scrolled through his email until he found his e-ticket.  “Looks like I land at 2:30 your time.  I was going to take a cab to drop off my things at the hotel before I headed on down to your mom’s.  Do you think that will give me enough time to get to your mom’s by 5 with all the traffic and everything?”

“Okay, no.  You are not staying in a hotel, you can call and cancel that reservation right now.  You can stay at my house.  Plus I’ll call Fred and have him pick you up.”

Harry’s mouth dropped in surprise.  “No, Louis, you don’t have to do that.  I’m coming out for a job interview kind of, and I can take care of it, really…”

“Harold,” Louis interrupts.  “California is expensive.  You’re already paying for your flight.  Let me at least help you with the rest of this.  I have more than enough space in my house and Fred has been rather bored lately, I’m sure.”

Harry barked out a laugh.  “Yeah, cause I’m sure you’re his only client.”

“I may not be his only but I am his favorite,” Louis countered.  His voice had gone soft again when he said, “Please.  Let me do this for you.  It’s the least I can do after cutting us off from each other these past couple months.”

Harry squeezed his eyes shut and mussed up his hair as he silently reprimanded himself for so easily falling back into Louis.  He knew as soon as Louis offered the first time that Harry would accept.

“Okay.”

He could hear Louis take in a deep breath before answering with his own, “Okay.”

“I’m sorry for what I said back in May, by the way.”  Harry was finally able to say what he had been wanting to for months now and he could feel the weight of the guilt for his misstep lift off of him as he said it.  

“It’s okay.  I’m mostly sorry for how I reacted.  Niall told me I was being a putz but I just kept right on with it,” Louis admitted.  “Listen, I have to go now, but I wanted to at least talk with you a little before you got here.  Make sure things were still okay with us.”

“Yeah.  We’re definitely okay.”  Harry finally allowed himself to smile, and it felt so good to do so and know the reason was Louis again.  Harry couldn’t allow himself to mess this up this time.

“Good.  I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

“Yeah,” Harry agreed.  “Oh, and Louis?”

“Uh huh?”

“You should wear my shirt more often.”  Harry’s grin widened even further as he heard Louis all out laugh for the first time in months.

“Whatever you say, Curly.”

*****

Harry was standing nervously at the Tomlinson’s front door with his bags at his feet, trying to make sure his hair was not too disgusting and his clothes had aired out a bit so he didn’t smell stale from the plane.  He was biting his lip and fiddling with his phone trying to calm his nerves enough to knock on the door when it swung open on its own.

“HARRY!” a high voice shrieked and soon he had not just one girl but two in his arms and an older woman who had to be their mother gazing on fondly.  He spun the girls around and laughed when Phoebe refused to let go.  Daisy pulled back after a minute to scream into the house.

“LEWIS!  HARRY IS HERE!”

Harry chuckled and hiked Phoebe up a bit higher in both of his arms.  “You know, sweets, I’m always up for a cuddle, but I’m afraid at 10 you’re a bit too grown up for me to hold for very long.”

Phoebe pouted but climbed down and Harry turned his attention to Jay.

“Hello, Mrs. Tomlinson.  I’m Harry, it’s so great to finally meet you,” he sincerely said, with a large smile.  He held his hand out, which she scoffed at before pulling him into a hug.

“I am so glad to finally meet the man who seems to have my entire family in the palm of his hand,” she laughed.  “The girls haven’t shut up about you since Easter, and I am so indebted to you for your help with them.  Louis said you were an absolute peach and such a help!”

“I can guarantee you that I never described you as a ‘peach’, Harold.  Please believe me!” Louis countered as he also came to the doorway.  “Why are you still standing on the porch with your bags?  Get inside, you lunatic!”  They all laughed and brought the party into the foyer.

Harry very quickly was introduced to Dan, who had his arms full with the younger set of twins, and eventually the two oldest girls, whom Harry had not yet met, came into the kitchen where Harry was helping Jay finish dinner.

“Louis!” Harry heard Lottie cry from the dining room a few minutes later where Louis, Lottie, and Fizzy were setting the table.  “You sly dog!  He is gorgeous!”

Harry immediately flushed and Jay looked at him with a thinly concealed chuckle.  He turned away to take the casserole out of the oven to keep himself busy but froze after setting it down on the counter once the conversation continued.

“No, really, Lou.  He is worlds better than Martin!” Fizzy agreed.  “And he isn’t a dickhead from what I can tell, and that’s always a plus.”

“Well you don’t want to date a dickhead, do you?” Louis whisper yelled back at them.  “Now hush up, I know he is hot but do you need to act so surprised by it?”

The two girls ooh-ed back at his attitude before Fizzy said, “Louis is touchy about this one, Lots.  Me thinks he is quite attached.”

“And the fact that Harry agreed to subject himself to an entire evening with the whole family has to be a good sign for Lou, too!” Lottie agreed.

“He didn’t even know I would be here until I called him last night,” Louis corrected.  “His being here is more because Phoebe has an ability to worm her way into anyone’s hearts rather than my ability to keep his attention.”

Harry could almost hear his pout from the next room over, but before he could go and insert himself in what they were saying, Jay brought Harry’s attention back to the vegetables they were sautéing.  By the time he was able to listen for more, the conversation seemed to have ended.

Harry and Louis were sat across from each other at the table so Phoebe and Daisy could sit on either side of Harry and natter on about anything they liked.  That didn’t stop Louis from hooking his foot around Harry’s underneath and sneaking smiles to him every chance he could.  It also didn’t stop Harry from flushing under his attention either.  Harry was quite frustrated with himself, really.  He thought he had gotten over his easy blushes around Louis, but apparently the several months with no contact took him back to square one in that department.  He could only imagine the things the girls would say later about him.

“Harry!  Are you listening to me?” Phoebe demanded in a tone much more forceful than she usually used with him.

“I’m so sorry, Phoebs.  What were you saying?”

She sighed and flipped her long hair over her shoulder.  “I was asking if you would finally teach me how to French braid after dinner.”

“Oh!  Yes, of course.  As soon as the table is cleared and the dishes are done.”  Harry chanced a look up at Jay who seemed shocked he would attempt to enforce such things, but he sent her a smile knowing that the girls would agree to almost anything by now in order to learn his hair tricks.

“Fine, but you need to be ready when we are done!” Daisy cried.  “Louis said he was going to steal you away from us, but it better not be before our braiding lesson!”

Louis squawked at that.  “I meant once you are in bed!  Harry can’t stay here because it is too far away from his interview he has tomorrow!”

“Yeah, yeah.  I know you two just want _aloooone tiiiiime_ ,” Daisy sassed.

Harry felt himself flush at her statement and chanced a look at Louis.  His mouth was flapping open and his face was showing a blush beneath his caramel tan.  At least Harry wasn’t the only one caught off guard by her statement.

“Okay, that’s enough!” Jay cut in.  “Girls, are you done eating?”  When the girls nodded their affirmation, Jay directed them to get started on the dishes while the rest of the family and Harry finished eating and cleared off the table.

During the back and forth Harry and Louis did between the dining room and kitchen, Louis found every excuse to touch Harry.  He would softly drag his fingers across the small of Harry’s back if they met in the doorway, or run his hand down his arm as they both reached across the table, all while giving him an intent look that spelled danger for Harry in his tight jeans.  Harry fought the urge to adjust himself in order to keep from giving Louis any satisfaction, but God was it hard.

Soon enough, Daisy and Phoebe had Harry in the family room in front of the TV practicing their braiding technique on Harry’s long hair.  Louis came in and was pretending to be focused on his phone, when really it seemed he was doing everything he could to get Harry riled up while his sisters were distracted.  Thankfully, it seemed the rest of the family had gone upstairs or out with friends so the only ones Harry was really worried about intercepting these silent messages were Daisy and Phoebe.

It all started with Louis simply licking his lips.  Who knew that could be so hot?  But when Louis did it, it was almost like an art.  He would stare at Harry through his perfect eyelashes, give a tiny smirk, and lick his lips slowly before looking down to where he had his hands carefully gripping a water bottle between his legs.  After moving those hands in a decidedly dirty fashion leaving absolutely nothing to Harry’s imagination as to his intentions, Louis then opened the water bottle before making eye contact with Harry again and taking a deep swig and swallowing obviously.

As if Harry hadn’t already been most of the way to hard as it was, Louis finished Harry’s resolve when he leaned back on the couch a bit, propped one arm behind his head, and obviously made eye contact with Harry before he moved his gaze down to his own slightly tented sweatpants, then back at Harry with a slight wiggle of his eyebrows.

Harry cleared his throat then and was proud of himself when he was able to say, “Okay girls, I think that’s enough for tonight.  I’m very tired from all of my traveling today and want to make sure I get a good amount of sleep before my interview tomorrow!” with his voice only sounding slightly more raspy than usual.  The girls whined, but with a little help in convincing from Louis, they were thankfully out the door in about 10 minutes.

Harry had only dropped his bags in the trunk of Louis’ decidedly fancy Mercedes when he felt hands take a firm grip on his hips and turn him around.  Louis backed Harry up against his car before giving him a deep and bruising kiss.

“Please tell me I haven’t been reading you wrong all night,” he whispered as he trailed kisses up and down the sensitive skin by Harry’s ear.  “It was all I could do to keep from jumping you in front of my entire family.”

“Shit, Lou.  I need you to get us back to your house as soon as physically possible.  All I’ve been able to think about for the last 30 minutes is having your perfect cock in my mouth,” Harry panted.

Louis groaned but made quick business of tugging Harry towards the passenger seat of the car.  “Get in.  Now,” he growled.

Harry took no note of the scenery passing him by; he only had eyes for Louis.  He couldn’t seem to keep his hands off of him, either.  As he reached one hand across the console, he began by tracing some of his favorite tattoos on Louis’ arm as he softly spoke.

“I’ve never regretted anything as much as telling you I wasn’t ready to date you,” he confessed.  “I’ve needed to tell you that for months now, but I’m so glad I’m able to now.”

“So does that mean you’ve changed your mind?” Louis asked, with what was a strain of hope in his voice.  “Is the trouble of everything that comes with dating me worth it to you?  Because you lose a lot of privacy if you are with me publicly.  I’m not going to pretend otherwise, Haz.”

“Yes.  I changed my mind almost immediately.  I still had to deal with those things, but I had lost you.  It was the most ridiculous thing I could have done.”  At this point, Harry moved from petting Louis’ arm to lifting his shirt so he could feel the smooth planes of his belly before dipping down to the ridge of hair that led to Harry’s intended destination.  “You are always worth it, Lou.  I’m sorry I ever made you doubt that.”

Louis hissed as Harry dipped his hand down into the waistband of his sweats only to find he wasn’t wearing any boxers.

Harry raised his eyebrows with a big smile.  “Louis William Tomlinson.  Did you expect this to be so easy?”  Harry gently began to pump Louis, who was already mostly hard.

“Uh, more like,” Louis swallowed and cleared his throat before trying again.  “More like hopeful, really.”

Harry continued working Louis who seemed to be driving faster as time went on.  “So how much further to your house?”

“Too far, babe.  Much too far.  Something like 10 minutes, but I’m hoping to make it in – “ Louis cut off with a gasp when Harry switched his technique and flicked his thumb over Louis’ head.  “Five…” he choked out a few beats later.  “Fuck, don’t stop.”

Harry turned to just teasing Louis who in turned was letting out near constant whimpers by the time they finally pulled into his gated neighborhood.  Harry pulled his hand back to himself so Louis could enter the passcode to his driveway and was nearly vibrating with anticipation of continuing where they left off as soon as they got inside.  He could get the full tour tomorrow.  All he knew was they were both wearing entirely too many clothes.

Louis seemed to be on the same wavelength because he yanked the keys out of the car and told Harry, “We can get your stuff later.  Get inside _now_ ,” as he almost seemed to fly to his front door to let them in.  Louis was shaking so much he kept missing the lock with his key until Harry slid one arm around his waist so he was pulled back against Harry’s chest.  Taking a deep breath of Louis’ hair and enjoying the musky scent of Louis mixed with what smelled like apple shampoo, Harry then helped guide his now stilled hand towards the deadbolt.

The door finally opened, Harry refused to release Louis.  They walked inside and as soon as the door was closed, Louis spun in Harry’s arms and immediately sank his fingers into Harry’s hair before pulling his head down to bring him into a needy kiss.  They stumbled down the hallway in this fashion as Louis mumbled things like, “Kitchen’s to the right,” and “Half bath is just around the corner,” into Harry’s mouth half-heartedly.

“All I care about right now is your bedroom, but honestly I could make do with a couch at this moment, too,” Harry breathed.

“Right, bedroom, yeah.”  

Louis guided them up the stairs as they began to work on ridding the other of their clothes.  Louis was down to his socks and Harry down to his jeans by the time they made it to his bedroom.  Once Harry needed to peel his skin tight jeans off, he allowed himself to look around a bit and found a wonderfully plush looking king sized bed in the middle of a nice sized master suite.  Not feeling up to really exploring due to the naked movie star laying on the bed waiting for him, Harry made quick work of the rest of his clothes before crawling up Louis’ body.

Sitting back on his haunches, he ran a hand through his hair, pulling it back so he could see Louis’ face.  With the other he lightly gripped Louis’ cock and gently asked, “This okay?”

“Fuck, yes.  Please.”

Harry needed no more than that before he leaned forward and licked up his shaft in one thick stripe.  That alone was enough to bring a whine out of Louis.  Harry could not wait to hear the other sounds he could elicit.

He set to work kitten licking Louis’ head before he sucked just the very tip into his mouth.  He swirled his tongue as he began to bob a bit and felt Louis fatten up the rest of the way.  He glanced up through his hair and found Louis gaping at Harry.  Louis pushed back some of Harry’s hair so he could see him clearly before whispering, “You are so fucking gorgeous, you know that?”

Harry just hummed happily as he began to take more of Louis into his mouth.  He pulled off to rewet his lips before diving back in and meeting his hand halfway down.  He continued to move his head up and down while moving his tongue in a way he knew would drive Louis crazy. Eventually he moved his hands to get nice handfuls of Louis’ perfect ass before Harry relaxed his throat and pushed down the rest of the way.  His nose nestled the coarse hair at the base and he felt Louis hit the back of his throat.  He began to swallow around Louis and slid his right hand to fondle his balls, causing Louis to breathe in jagged breaths.

“Ha-Harry… I’m almost there…I’m about to go,” Louis forced out between breaths as he began to pull on Harry’s hair.  He was yanking in just the right way to send shoots of arousal down Harry’s spine and he couldn’t help but hum a bit around Louis.  This was enough to push him over the edge and he began to shoot down Harry’s throat.  

Harry swallowed as best he could, and began pulling himself the rest of the way to orgasm at the same time.  By the time Louis’ entire body had relaxed from the tense shaking that had taken over during his highest waves of pleasure, Harry had also come all over the bedspread.  

“That was embarrassingly fast, I generally hold out for quite a bit longer,” Louis panted.  “Just so you know.  But it has been awhile since I have enjoyed one of those, so I’m using that excuse.”

Harry smirked and was about to pull away so he could grab a towel to clean himself up when Louis made grabby hands.

“Kiss me, please,” he whispered.  “I wanna taste me on you.”

Harry’s spent prick twitched a little in excitement again hearing Louis talk like that.  “I’m too tired for a second round, baby.  You can’t talk like that.”

Louis paused, before asking, “You went while giving me a blow job?”

Harry blushed.  “I just really like it, okay?” he defended, somewhat sheepishly.

“That’s so hot,” Louis sighed, his eyes huge.  “Now I _definitely_ need you up here.  Kiss me. Now.”

Harry obliged and after a few soft kisses, they wrapped up in each other.

“Clean up in the morning?” Louis suggested.

“Yeah,” Harry sleepily agreed.  They tucked themselves under the covers and both fell asleep within minutes.

*****

Harry woke up with it still dark in the room.  It took him a moment to figure out where he was before the previous night came back to him.  He began to stretch out but his moves were restricted by Louis snuggling up behind him like a Koala.  Harry laced his fingers with Louis’ and rested his hand by his chest before dozing back off to sleep.

*****

“Shit, Harold, what time is your interview?”

Harry’s eyes slowly opened to find what had previously been a pitch black room now filled with bright sunlight.  That startled him awake quickly and he sat up trying to figure out where his phone might be.  “Uh, uhm…interview…I’m supposed to meet them at…uh…”

“Now is not the time for your molasses speed speech patterns, Curly.  You can’t be late!  What time do you need to be there?”

“11.  I’m supposed to be there at 11.  What time is it?”  Harry got out of bed and began looking for where his jeans might have landed the night before.  He was fairly sure his phone was still in the pocket.

“Okay, well that’s good.  I was worried it was at 9.  Well, we still need to get you washed up and presentable, in addition to the long drive into town, and food!  Breakfast!  You can’t go to an interview without the most important meal of the day!”  Louis continued chattering with, what Harry felt, was a lack of direction.  He just said the first thing that popped into his head that seemed to have anything to do with Harry and his interview, and while Harry was finding it all rather endearing, he still hadn’t found his phone and quite honestly was in dire need of a piss.

“Lou.  Babe,” he soothed as he finally fished his phone out of his jeans that had somehow made their way outside the doorway into the hall.  “How about we start with a shower and go from there, hmm?”

Louis tilted his head to the side, his bed head making him look like a curious hedgehog.  “We?  Is that an invitation?”

“Well, if we are going to give this boyfriends thing a try, I’d really rather make showering with you more of a requirement, personally,” Harry teased as he walked over to where Louis was sat on the edge of the bed.  Louis automatically placed his hands on Harry’s hips as he walked between Louis’ legs and leaned into him.  “So, are we gonna give it a try?”

“I dunno.  I heard you’re really high maintenance and I just don’t know that I have the patience for that kind of thing in a partner.”

Harry tucked his face into where Louis’ neck met his shoulder and barely withheld a squeal.  “Partner.  I like the sound of that almost as much as spouse.”

“Harold, I know we work really well together, but I think a proposal right now is even a little fast for us,” Louis laughed as Harry pouted and pulled away.  He began to walk towards the master bath, making sure to sway his hips to tease Louis further.

“Well?  Are you coming or not, _boyfriend_?”

*****

3 Months Later

“I cannot wait until you can move out here already,” Louis said into his phone as he unlocked his front door.  It had been a ridiculously long week of promo for his next movie release and all he really wanted was to curl up with Harry and not leave his bed for at least three days.  As to whether any sleep would be had during that time would be up for negotiation.

“Me too, boo.  Just one more week,” Harry’s voice promised.  Sometimes, when Louis was really desperate, he could close his eyes, cuddle up to one of Harry’s sweaters he had left behind, and press the phone really close to his ear and almost convince himself he wasn’t alone in his house.  He tossed his keys onto the table in the entranceway and kicked his shoes haphazardly onto the pile a little further down the hall.  He was removing his jacket when he realized he smelled something other than the stale air he had expected to be welcomed by after basically abandoning his house for the week spent in various studios for interviews and photo shoots.

“Harold,” he whispered as he snuck around the main floor, finding nothing seeming to be out of place.  “I think someone might have broke into my house.”

“Why?  What makes you think that?” Harry whispers back to him with what Louis took to be fear in his voice. “Are you in danger?”

“I don’t know.  Why are you whispering too?” Louis questioned as he began to tiptoe up the stairs.  There was a strange glow coming out of his bedroom and that was also where the scent he still couldn’t quite place was emanating from.

“It just seemed appropriate since you were,” Harry answered but…that’s strange.  His voice had just echoed almost as if he were…

“You’re here!” Louis exclaimed as he dropped his phone and ran into his room.  

As soon as he turned into the doorway he stopped, absolutely dumbfounded.  Harry had lit what looked like hundreds (but was probably just dozens) of scented candles around the room, he had just hit play on some music, it sounded like some of his softer indie stuff he liked so much, and Harry, the centerpiece, was laying completely naked while stroking himself on Louis’ bed.

“I’m so glad you got home when you did, because after opening myself up for you, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to hold off much longer,” Harry rasped.

Louis finally was able to move again, hearing that.  He pulled Harry’s White Eskimo shirt off in one swift movement and began unbuttoning his pants and making his way closer to the bed.  Harry’s cock was already leaking pre-cum and as he continued to stroke himself slowly.  Louis’ pants dropped to the floor and he quickly flung his briefs to the side after them before crawling onto the bed beside Harry for a scalding kiss.

“So you opened yourself up for me already, hm?” he questioned as he batted Harry’s hand away and worked a few rough tugs.  

Harry’s eyes widened and his pupils blew out before he bit his bottom lip and nodded.  Louis found the lube next to Harry’s pillow (he might not have moved in yet, but since it was on Harry’s side of the bed, that’s how Louis always thought of it) and squeezed enough on his fingers to make the way easy for him.  He teased Harry a bit first by letting go of his cock and just ghosting over the entrance of his hole.  Harry whined and wiggled his bum in an attempt to get something more, but Louis just pulled away.

“Were you thinking about me while you did it?”

“Yes, always.  Wasn’t nearly so good as you,” Harry whispered.

Louis smiled softly as he gently pressed one finger past the ring of muscle and easily worked in one finger.  Harry did seem to have prepped himself because Louis met less resistance than usual as he worked in a second finger.  “And how many fingers did you work up to?”

“Th…Three and…oh God, yes, there, Lou.  Just like that,” Harry gasped as Louis hit a particularly good angle for him.  “Three, but that was before I tried out the new toy.”

Louis froze at that.  “New toy?  You mean the…”

Harry grinned and gestured to the side table where the brand new glittery dildo Louis had just bought was lying beside the candles.  Louis dropped his head to Harry’s stomach, and Harry began to pet Louis’ hair.  

“You’re killing me, Styles.  You couldn’t have waited?  I would have loved to watch you fuck yourself like that,” he groaned.  To punish Harry, he added a third finger.  Judging by Harry’s sounds of pleasure that resulted, he didn’t seem to mind.

“I got some pictures for you,” he hissed between staggered breaths.  “Just didn’t send them yet.”

Louis leaned up on his knees and pressed a kiss to Harry’s mouth.  “You’re too good for me.”

Harry seemed to glow, both from the praise and from the sweat that had broken out across his body, and Louis honestly had never seen anyone so beautiful.  His loose waves of hair were spread out on the pillow making him look like a piece of art.  How Louis had gotten so lucky, he would never know.  And to have him back a week earlier than he had expected was so great.  

It had been a long few months of stolen moments together since July.  Harry’s interview with Sense had gone well, but the publication ended up deciding to go in a different direction.  He desperately wanted to be in LA with Louis, but also wasn’t too down about not getting the position with so little work experience in the field, so he had returned to NoVa and continued to job search.  Harry had finally landed a position with a photography group that seemed the perfect mix of nature and portrait while still giving steady work and being centered in Los Angeles.  It was everything he had been searching for during the previous six months and now that it was working out, Harry was finally moving in with Louis.

Louis mind ran past the Skype dates, texts, and phone calls that had brought them to this point and couldn’t help but smile before pulling out of Harry, wiping his fingers off on the duvet, and patting his hip.  His boy had given him so much, and tonight he would do his best to do the same.

“How do you want me, love?”

“Just…can I ride you, Lou?  That’s all I’ve thought about all day.”

Louis hid a whine in his arm as he threw himself beside Harry.  “Fuck.  Yes.  Of course, yes.”  He reached over for Harry and helped roll him on top.  Did you grab a condom?”

Harry slipped his hand beneath the pillow Louis was propped up on and pulled one out with a proud look on his face.  He easily tore it open and after just a few strokes to get Louis the rest of the way there, Harry rolled it on.  Louis was so worked up at this point, he was worried he wouldn’t last very long and God, all he wanted was hours of Harry working himself on Louis’ cock.  It was a worthy goal, and Louis would do his best to attain it.

Right as he thought he might be a bit more under control, Harry positioned himself above Louis’ cock and lowered himself all the way on in one go.  Both gasped at the intense sensations they experienced and had to pause just there for a moment to regain their control.  After a few breaths, Harry wiggled his hips with a bit of a smirk on his face, and Louis is fairly sure his entire face went slack because of the jolts of electricity that were taking over his body.

As Harry began to slowly rise up on his knees, Louis brought his hands to Harry’s hips just in time for Harry to drop down with all his weight and a breath Louis didn’t even realize he was holding was punched out of him.  Harry’s pace grew faster and faster as time went on, but all Louis seemed to be able to do was watch as Harry’s head was thrown back and his chest grew more flushed.

Louis could tell Harry was beginning to lose his rhythm and was close when he leaned forward to put some weight on his hands as well as change the angle, so Louis moved his hands around to Harry’s perfect, fleshy ass and thrusted up into Harry.  Harry began to babble incoherently, which Louis took to be a good sign, and he continued.  

He had just changed the angle a bit and moved his hand down to be able to feel where he was entering Harry when Harry’s arms buckled and he landed on Louis’ chest, just saying, “Yes, yes, God, yes, Louis, fuck, you’re perfect…” on a continual stream.  It was what could have been minutes or hours for all Louis could tell before he felt Harry clench around him and shoot up onto his belly completely untouched.  

Feeling the added pressure from Harry’s orgasm in addition to the way he groaned Louis’ name was all it took for Louis to immediately follow.  They lay there, holding onto each other, until their bodies stopped shaking and their breaths calmed down a bit.

“I love you so much, do you know that?” Louis mumbled while petting Harry’s hair.  His brain caught up a second later and he stopped where he was, waiting to hear Harry’s reaction.  They had come close a few times, but neither had gone so far as to say the word “love” directly to one another yet so this was a rather large step Louis hadn’t even anticipated taking tonight.

Harry turned his face so he was kissing up Louis’ neck before he pulled himself up enough to see Louis’ face.  Harry was wearing the biggest grin with dimples so deep, he couldn’t help but reach out and touch them.

“I love you, too.  So much.”  

Louis soon had a matching smile and he just stared up into Harry’s face that was softly  illuminated by the candles throughout the room.

“I also have one last surprise,” Harry announced as he stood up and began waddling towards the bathroom.

“What’s that?” Louis called after him, not moving an inch.

“I happen to have made some of your favorite non-Catholic croissants and they are waiting for you downstairs.”

Louis hid a giggle behind his hand as he listened to the shower turn on.  He slowly rolled off the  bed so he could join his boyfriend.  “I knew I loved you for a reason!”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on tumblr, i'm [lululawrence](http://lululawrence.tumblr.com)!
> 
> Click [here](http://lululawrence.tumblr.com/post/120572829688/this-aint-just-a-thing-that-you-give-up-34998) for a rebloggable post.


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